The first step will be to attend Family Dispute Resolution (“FDR”) with the other party to determine if reaching an “out-of-court” agreement is possible.
This is a compulsory step under the relevant legislation (either the Family Law Act (Cth) or Family Court Act (WA)) before applying to the Family Court, unless mediation is deemed inappropriate (for example, where there has been family violence or child abuse).
Under usual circumstances, if the FDR step has not been undertaken (and a “Section 60” Certificate confirming participation in FDR has not been issued) the Application for Parenting Orders will be rejected, unless a strong degree of urgency can be demonstrated.
For the most part, however, it is highly uncommon for one parent to simply agree that the other should retain sole parental rights (thereby possibly excluding the “non-custodial” parent from a meaningful role in the child’s life altogether) so these types of matters will virtually always require to be formally determined by the Court after a Hearing.
The party seeking “full custody” will need to provide the Court with sufficient and credible evidence about why it would be in the child’s best interests for the other parent to either spend no time with them or have no material participation in their upbringing.