FAMILY LAW – PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - Application for review – Interim parenting – Substantive review of a Senior Judicial Registrar’s decision – Hearing de novo – Application dismissed     

FAMILY LAW – Parenting – child aged three years – unilateral relocation – mother has moved child from Adelaide to Sydney – child has been in NSW for a period in excess of twelve months – father seeks compulsory return of mother and child to SA – high conflict – allegations of substance abuse and family violence – emergency facing mother at time of relocation – best interests – stability of care arrangements – logistical considerations relating to spend time with arrangements  

FAMILY LAW – parenting – ex tempore reasons – application for final consent orders to be made at close of mother’s case - whether proposed consent minute of final orders in the best interests of the child – cessation of time between father and one child – whether court need be satisfied orders are in children’s best interest – whether alleged unacceptable risk exists – nature and scope of duty of court when making parenting orders – Division 12A of Part VII – final consent orders made 

FAMILY LAW – Children – parenting arrangement for two children aged 11 and 13 – no significant interaction between the children and the father since separation – whether a change in the arrangement would be in the children’s best interest – presumption of equal shared responsibility rebutted – allegations of family violence perpetrated by the father – best interests – matters to be considered.   FAMILY LAW - Property – property settlement – marriage of 24 years – modest asset pool – assessment of financial and non-financial contribution – the need for the financial relationship between the parties to be concluded – after separation the husband has occupied the matrimonial home – assessment of future borrowing capacity of the parties - considerations of just and equity  

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING – the sole child of the relationship has a good and close relationship with both parents – the current parenting arrangements have been for an equal time and shared care arrangement for some time – the almost nine year old child of the relationship advised the Family Consultant and the Independent Children’s Lawyer that he liked and would prefer to maintain the current arrangement – the Mother was a diffident and uncertain witness who seemed not to know or understand what it was she was seeking in either aspect of the trial and in many respects it was in her best interests rather than her son’s that she was seeking a reduction in time with the Father – small adjustment in the spend time with arrangements – there were difficulties with the evidence of both parties.  FAMILY LAW – PROPERTY – there were few factual matters in dispute in a relationship of modest years including that the Husband’s contributions especially at the start of the 8 year relationship were very significantly greater than the Wife – Husband on invalidity pension – issues regarding how to treat pension – ultimately perhaps the biggest issue in the property dispute was the Wife’s (and her highly experienced lawyers) failure to disclose a special costs arrangement whereby the Wife’s employer confirmed that he would pay all of her legal costs provided she moved to the lawyers who represented her at trial – only during the Wife’s re-examination did her Counsel put to the Wife and show her the special costs arrangement, being the first time this had been disclosed – the Wife had affirmed and filed two Financial Statements and four Costs Notices that never disclosed the special costs arrangement with her employer – costs awarded against the Wife’s lawyers in light of the persistent failure to disclose noting especially Murphy J’s emphasis in Penfold v Penfold on ensuring the “integrity of the proceedings” – Applicant Wife’s lawyers referred to relevant law society.   

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING – allocation of parental responsibility – whether four year old child should live week about with her parents.   FAMILY LAW – PROPERTY – whether funds repaid to wife’s father should be added-back – whether post-separation loan ought be included as a joint liability – assessment of contributions and other factors. 

FAMILY LAW – parenting and property– final hearing – parental responsibility – sole parental responsibility for medical decisions only – shared care versus nine/five arrangement – school holiday time – special needs of children – insight into needs – family violence – insight into parental behaviour – high parental conflict – where court disagrees with recommendations of the Family Report writer – add backs – legal fees – loans – contributions – inheritance – s 75(2)(o) – failure to disclose – increased legal fees due to conduct of a party – dissipation of assets post-separation – lump sum child support – chattels  

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING – wide range of issues on display at trial – major problems with expert who was de-registered in the course of the trial – ultimately parties agreed on most issues in dispute including the two girls of the relationship (aged 14 and 11) remaining to live with the Father in City D and spending time with the Mother in Queensland – one of the few remaining issues related to parental responsibility – significant concerns about the lack of insight of the Mother in the light of her evidence – Orders for sole parental responsibility in the Father’s favour.

FAMILY LAW – final parenting orders – ex tempore reasons – application for equal time changed at last minute – dispute was whether school term there should be a 6/8 arrangement or a 5/9 arrangement – child with special needs – previous cooperative arrangement between parents ended when one sought to relocate with child and other overheld child – two good but different parents – orders for 8/6 arrangement   

FAMILY LAW – Parenting – one child, 11 years – where the Court set the matter down for final hearing and made orders pursuant to s 102NA of the Family Law Act 1975 – where the mothers previous legal representatives withdrew a month out from the final hearing – where the mother has attended the final hearing self-represented – where the mother sought an adjournment of the final hearing on day one – where the mother subsequently left the Court precinct at the start of day two, citing her need to return home to City H to seek mental health assistance – where the Court adjourned the trial in order for a proper hearing to be conducted at a later date.   

FAMILY LAW – CHILDREN – final hearing – child aged three years – final consent orders made on all property and parenting issues save for the issue of overseas travel –where the parties have a dysfunctional co-parenting relationship – where Country B is the mother’s country of origin – where the mother seeks for the child to be able to travel with her on up to two occasions per year for a cumulative period not exceeding six weeks – where the mother seeks for the child to travel to a non-Hague Convention country – where the father seeks for travel to be conditional upon the child attaining the age of 10 years – consideration of recommendations of Family Report Writer – orders made as sought by the father.  

FAMILY LAW - PROPERTY SETTLEMENT - Where the wife seeks significant notional add backs to the property pool – Where such add backs are rejected - Where it is just and equitable to make an adjustment – Where a two pool approach is appropriate noting the substantial amount of superannuation held by the husband and where the husband seeks a superannuation splitting order – Where the husband has made higher financial contributions – Where the wife has been and continues to be the primary carer for the children, one of whom has special needs – Where at issue is the mix of superannuation and non-superannuation property each party is to receive - Where the children spend significant and substantial time with the husband – Contribution finding made in favour of the husband – Adjustment made in favour of the wife for future needs.

FAMILY LAW – mother seek declaration of parentage – whether to proceed in the absence of a party – evidence of service vague and opaque – mother was assessed for child support soon after birth – child was removed from mother’s care and child support ceased –  mother’s application for child support denied when child returned to mother – mother has not been in contact with father since child was born – father and child have been in contact previously – child no longer wants contact with the father – service dispensed with – child – service by post may not be appropriate in age of electronic communication and social media – whether respondent’s demographic would have ever written or received a letter – utility of affidavits of service to unknown last known address – telephone enquiry of respondent on day of hearing ascertained current email address – always back self-interest, at least you know its trying 

FAMILY LAW - Unpaid child maintenance – where payer father was not present in Australia – where payer father became entitled to a sum of money from his mother’s estate – where payee mother has passed – garnishee order against the estate of payer father’s mother – unpaid child support found payable to payee mother’s estate. 

FAMILY LAW – CONTRAVENTION – Costs – Parenting – Where it was alleged the father contravened by overholding the child following periods of time spending – Where the father admitted the breaches at the commencement of Trial but maintained he had a reasonable excuse – Where after giving evidence at Trial, the father plead guilty to each count without reasonable excuse – Father to enter into a Bond – Orders for costs. 

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING – relocation – mother seeks child (aged 6) live with her in Town B–  child currently lives with mother in Suburb C and Town B and spends time with the father five nights per fortnight – evaluation of competing proposals – orders made for child to live with mother in Town B and to spend alternate weekends with father during school terms – orders provide for child to spend greater time with father if he moves closer to Town B – order regarding child’s school attendance in Town B.

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING – relocation – mother seeks children (now aged 11 and 8 years) live with her in Region B and for the children to spend time with the father on alternate weekends (from Friday to Sunday), for one additional weekend each month, and for additional holiday time – application resisted by the father who seeks children continue to spend equal time with both parents – evaluation of competing proposals – mother’s application refused – order for children to continue spending equal time with both parents – no order made confining the area in which the parties may live with the children – all other parenting orders made by consent.

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING - Whether 11 and 8 year old boys should live with their father in Victoria or their mother in Queensland 

FAMILY LAW – PROPERTY – where there is significant agreement as to the facts and the assets to be divided – whether there should be a one or two pool approach – impact of the Husband’s initial contributions – impact of the Wife having primary care of a child with special needs and an inferior income.

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING - whether the impact on the mother’s parenting capacity of nearly four year old child spending time with his father is such that the child should spend no time with his father

FAMILY LAW - PARENTING AND PROPERTY – undefended hearing –– de facto relationship 16 years- two children – mother has sole care since separation in 2021 -no binding financial agreement – purported financial agreement set aside – alternation of property interests

FAMILY LAW – parenting – family violence – sole parental responsibility – father has not seen the children since separation – where the father shows lack of insight and failure to address his behaviour – where the father poses an unacceptable risk to the children – whether or not orders should be made for no time or for supervised time – whether time should be graduated to unsupervised – whether or not orders should be made for family therapy – airport watchlist and passport orders

FAMILY LAW – SINGLE EXPERT WITNESS – application for removal – earlier valuation for third party bank – independence of single expert– duties – non-disclosure of earlier valuation – materiality – selection of single expert – remediation if non-disclosure - application disallowed

FAMILY LAW – Harman and/or implied obligation – are special circumstances required the documents in another court – whether special circumstances in this application – very late application – whether costs should be ordered – special circumstances found – applicant released from implied obligation

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING – interim application after matter not reached – stood over till final hearing date

FAMILY LAW – Parenting – two male children aged 11 and 9 – second round of parenting proceedings – where the parties consented to final orders in December 2018 – where the parties had difficulty implementing the final orders – where the parties’ communication was unproductive – where the two boys where being dragged into the conflict by both parents – where the relationship between the father and the children began to break down in part due to disclosures of physical abuse in the father’s care by the children – where the children became resistant to spending time and communicating with the father – where the children are now estranged from the father and fearful of him – where the Court considers there would be an emotional or psychological risk to the children if they were required to spend time with the father – best interests of the children.

FAMILY LAW – Parenting – Allegations of physical, sexual and financial abuse – No findings of fact sought – No risk established – Parenting capacity – Children to live with father and spend time with mother

FAMILY LAW – Final Parenting – Allegations of physical, emotional, psychological and financial abuse – Criminal convictions – Unacceptable risk – Children to live with mother and spend no time with father

FAMILY LAW – PARENTING – Assessment of risk – Where Father subject of shooting – where Father previously convicted of offences – where Mother previously convicted to driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs – where each parent has history of drug use – Where Mother has history of mental health issues – where Father has mental health vulnerabilities – Allegations of family violence – Determination of parental responsibility