Co-parent harassment: examples and how to document them — for Australian parents

How to read this in Australia

A record earns its weight by staying factual. Note what was planned, note what took place, and attach the file or message that supports the note.

Start from the parenting order, plan or written agreement now in force. Most family law here is federal, though Western Australia follows a different court path in some cases. Use the words that appear in your own papers.

Keep everyday days in the private record alongside the difficult ones. When a review is needed, select only the entries that answer the question in front of you. That is what lets an Australian family lawyer find the key facts quickly.

State, territory and pathway checklist

Name the state or territory and the court registry. Say if the plan is an order, parenting plan, or written deal. Use the words from that paper. Flag any Western Australian court path for legal review. Keep court papers, dispute help records, and daily notes in separate groups.

What co-parents usually mean by harassment

There isn't one definition that travels across every state or country. In everyday use, parents describe a mix of repeated contact, hostility, threats, monitoring and pressure that keeps arriving after they've asked for it to stop. Your record doesn't have to settle the legal question. It has to show what happened, how often, and through which channel.

Examples that belong in a record

Useful entries tend to fall into a few groups. Message volume and timing come first. After that: insults or threats, contact through people who never agreed to be involved, turning up outside scheduled time, and using the children to carry demands. Money and school admin get used the same way. Log the behavior, not the label you'd put on it.

Separate the pattern from the single incident

One heated message on a bad day is different from ninety messages across a weekend. Reviewers look at frequency, escalation, and whether the contact continued after a clear request to stop. Keep a weekly count alongside each entry, and include the quiet weeks too. A pattern reads as honest when it shows both.

Write each entry so a stranger can check it

Facts first: date, time, channel, what was sent or said, who could see or hear it, and what you did next. Skip the diagnosis. “He's a narcissist” can't be checked. “Fourteen messages between 23:10 and 01:40, screenshots MSG-114 to MSG-127” can. The second version is much harder to argue with.

Preserve the source material early

Messages get deleted, accounts get blocked, voicemails expire. Export or back up the original thread before you need it, and keep screenshots dated and unedited. Note anything you can't recover, and say plainly that it's missing. Gaps you flag yourself do far less damage than gaps someone else finds.

Know when a log isn't the next step

A log is not a safety plan. If you or the children are being threatened, or the contact feels dangerous, speak to local emergency services or a domestic-abuse service first, then to a qualified lawyer. Your record supports those conversations. It doesn't replace them.

A Australian review note

Examples of co-parent harassment, which details belong in a written record, and how to log repeated contact, threats and pressure factually. Sharing any of it in Australia takes a few more steps.

Work from a copy when someone needs to review the record. Include the current order or plan, a short timeline and a small set of named source files.

Check current court orders and rules before you send the pack. A Australian family lawyer can say what belongs in an affidavit, annexure, or private file.

Name the state, territory, and court path. Take extra care in Western Australia. A national guide cannot set the right court step for every case.

DATE:
TIME RANGE:
CHANNEL:
WHAT WAS SENT OR SAID:
WHO WAS PRESENT:
PRIOR REQUEST TO STOP (DATE):
WHAT I DID NEXT:
SOURCE REFERENCE:
WHAT I COULD NOT RECOVER: