Fact findings in family court to be over 80% sure the alleged events occurred.

Rejected 15 signatures

What the petition asks

I want the government to change the current family court rules around fact finds. Courts should only deem ‘found’ facts surrounding domestic violence if the fact has been over 80% to have been proven or previously been proven in criminal court.

I want each mother and father of their child to have a fair chance of contact. There has been too many instances in which parents cannot or have limited contact with their own child based on family court findings within a fact find. Currently a family court only needs to be 51% sure that an event occurred. How can a judge be sure such events took place on little to no evidence at all? The current percentage should not deem a parent ‘proven’ to have done anything. Innocent until proven guilty.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

You may wish to sign this open petition which calls for similar action:

'Change family law proceedings burden of proof to “beyond a reasonable doubt”'
Change family law proceedings burden of proof to “beyond a reasonable doubt”

Timeline

1 Jul 2026	Petition opened for signatures
29 Jul 2026	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 15

Status Rejected

Rejected 29 Jul 2026

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