Judgments

Division 1 - Appellate division

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – LEAVE TO APPEAL – Where the wife seeks to appeal interim orders restraining the second respondent from dealing with proceeds of sale and otherwise dismissing the second respondent’s Application in a Proceeding – Where the wife seeks an order on appeal extending the restraint to the final hearing – Where the primary judge has already made an order in those terms – Where the subject matter of the Application in an Appeal had been dealt with – Proposed grounds of appeal are unmeritorious – Leave to appeal refused – Orders made as to written submissions on the issue of costs.

APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Where the wife sought leave to adduce further evidence – Further evidence is duplicative and redundant – Wife fails to identify the relevance of the material or why it was not adduced at trial – Application dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – PARENTING – Appellant challenges jurisdiction of the Court – Pseudolegal arguments dismissed– Where the appellant was not denied procedural fairness when he failed to put evidence forward at trial – Where appellant did not engage in family report process – Where appellant is critical of primary judge for not pursuing evidence on his behalf –No grounds of appeal established – Appeal dismissed.

APPEAL – PARENTING – Unacceptable risks – Risks warranting supervision – Nature of risks not limited to “immediate” risks – Risks that are not “immediate” can be unacceptable as can risks from insidious behaviour over time – Primary judge correct to order supervision to ameliorate risks.

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – PARENTING – Evidence – Effect of state court judgments in family violence proceedings – Whether issue estoppel arose – Whether judgment of state courts should have been adopted pursuant to s 69ZX – Whether State Court judgements otherwise relevant or of weight where primary judge determining issues of family violence on evidence at hearing.

APPEAL – PARENTING – Evidence – Where the Family Report Writer unable to be cross-examined due to illness – Admissibility of Report – Whether report ought to have been excluded pursuant to s 135 of the Evidence Act – Weight to be attached to report.

APPEAL – PARENTING – Definition of family violence – Whether the primary judge was correct in classifying all of the appellant’s behaviour as family violence – Where appellant destroyed engagement rings – Where limited evidence of circumstances of destruction of rings. APPEAL – PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Error in order that is amenable to correction under the “slip rule” – Where appeal inappropriate prior to exhausting remedies with primary judge.

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – PARENTING – Where appellant argues Family Law Act amendments should apply to primary judge’s decision – Appellant argues applicability of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – No grounds of appeal established – Appeal dismissed – Application for leave to file cross-appeal out of time – Leave not granted – Application dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – PARENTING – Appeal from final parenting orders – Whether primary judge erred in findings of family violence – Whether primary judge erred in assessment of findings as to unacceptable risk – Whether primary judge gave adequate reasons – Whether primary judge erred in making adverse inference against appellant – Application of the rule in Jones v Dunkel – Where appellant asserts there was a reversal of onus – Where appellant asserts he was required to prove a negative – No grounds of appeal challenging parenting orders established – Appeal dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Where the appellant seeks leave to issue a subpoena for the production of documents and to adduce the documents subsequently produced as further evidence in the appeal – Where there is no utility in permitting the appellant to issue a subpoena when the documents are not seemingly related to any of the grounds of appeal – Application dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – COSTS – Where the appeal was wholly unsuccessful – Where respondent sought costs of the appeal – Applicant to pay respondent’s costs of the appeal in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Where the appellant sought an expedited hearing of her appeal from interim parenting orders – Where the matter is listed for trial commencing on 25 November 2024 – Where the appealed orders have been implemented and there is no evidence the children have not managed with the change of residence from the appellant to the respondent – Where the appellant may apply for variation of the interim orders at trial – Where expedition of the appeal would cause prejudice to the respondent and the Independent Children’s Lawyer – Application dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

APPEAL – PARENTING – Appellant and cross-appellant appeal from final parenting orders – Whether primary judge erred in failing to apply the Briginshaw test – Whether primary judge erred in assessment of findings giving rise to unacceptable risk – Whether primary judge gave adequate reasons – Whether primary judge erred in not accepting expert evidence – Whether primary judge made findings contrary to evidence – Where cross-appellant contends apprehended bias on part of primary judge – Consideration of test in Ebner – No grounds of appeal challenging parenting orders established – Both appeal and cross-appeal dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – STAY – Application for a stay of Full Court orders pending application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia – Subject order remitted the matter back for rehearing – Applicant asserts the Full Court failed to clarify the law in allowing her appeal – Where remitted rehearing is likely to take place next year – The applicant’s prejudice is preparing for the rehearing – Where it likely the High Court would remit any rehearing to the Full Court or a trial judge – Application dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Application in an Appeal – Leave to commence proceedings – Where the primary judge dismissed the applicant’s application to vary final parenting orders – Where the applicant requires leave to appeal in circumstances where the primary judge made orders restraining him from bringing any further proceedings under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“the Act”) – Where all 91 grounds of appeal lack reasonable prospects of success and are therefore vexatious within the meaning of s 102Q(1) of the Act – Leave refused – Application dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – COSTS – Where the appeal was dismissed by consent – Where the Full Court made orders by consent to reflect the intention of the primary judge pursuant to the slip rule – Where the respondent made an application for costs in circumstances where the appeal could have been avoided by application of the slip rule – Costs order granted in favour of the respondent in a fixed sum

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – COSTS – Application in an Appeal for a stay partly allowed – Where the respondent seeks indemnity costs for the application – Consideration of offers to resolve the stay application – Applicant has incurred significant legal costs – Where the stay interferes with the respondent’s right to enforce the fruit of the judgment – Where it is just for the applicant to pay the respondent’s costs – Matters do not justify an order for indemnity costs – Applicant to pay the respondent’s costs in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – BINDING FINANCIAL AGREEMENT – Where the wife appeals from a declaration that the financial agreement entered between she and the husband be binding and enforceable – Whether the wife discharged the onus of proof as to the provision of advice to fulfill the requirements of s 90G(1)(b) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“the Act”) – Consideration of the principles identified in Abrum & Abrum [2013] FamCA 897 – Where the incontrovertible facts lead to the conclusion that the necessary advice prescribed by s 90G(1)(b) of the Act was not given – Error established – Where the primary judge determined in the exercise of discretion pursuant to s 90G(1A) of the Act that nevertheless it would be unjust and inequitable if the agreement were not binding – Where the wife appeals from an alternative declaration pursuant to s 90G(1B) of the Act – Where the wife appeals from the dismissal of her relief for the agreement to be set aside pursuant to s 90K(1) of the Act for non-disclosure of a material matter, or as to the agreement being void or voidable vitiated by undue influence, or unconscionable conduct – Where the wife contended errors as to a failure to take into account relevant considerations, taking into account irrelevant considerations, conclusions being contrary to the weight of the evidence, and failing to give adequate reasons – Where such errors are not established – Appeal dismissed – Costs ordered in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Provision of transcript – Where the appellant seeks relief from the financial obligation to procure the transcript of the primary hearing and that the Court procure the transcript at its expense – Where the evidence of the appellant establishes she cannot afford the transcript – Where the grounds of appeal do not appear to warrant advertence to the transcript – Where the submission by the appellant that the prosecution of her appeal would be prejudiced without the transcript is rejected – Order made relieving the appellant of the obligation to file and serve the transcript – Application otherwise dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Property – Where the husband appeals from final property settlement orders – Superannuation – Where the husband contends the primary judge erred in not adopting the diminished value of his superannuation in the balance sheet due to his legal fees – Where the parties conducted the litigation from the common position that legal fees would be added back to the property pool – Where the matters the husband contends were ignored were explicitly taken into account – Where the appeal against the property settlement orders fails – Binding Financial Agreement – Damages – Where the husband appeals from the finding that he did not suffer any compensatory loss – Where notwithstanding the finding of hardship the husband’s claim for compensatory damages required assessment – Error identified – Appeal allowed in part – Damages assessment remitted for re-hearing – Costs certificates granted.

CROSS-APPEAL – Binding Financial Agreement – Negligence – Where the husband’s former solicitors cross-appeal against the award of damages – Whether the primary judge erred in finding that the husband’s contract claim was not statute barred – Consideration of Orwin v Rickards [2020] VSCA 225 and Davys Burton v Thom [2009] 1 NZLR 437 – Where the “damaged asset” characterisation of when damage is first sustained under a negligently drawn contract is neither binding nor persuasive when applied to Binding Financial Agreements – Where the advice of the solicitors was clearly inadequate – Where the cross-appeal fails – Cross-appeal dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Property – Limited evidence available to the primary judge – Where no retrospective valuation of the farming property was conducted by an appropriately qualified expert –– Consideration of s 79 of the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) – Where the factual error was material to the outcome of proceedings – Appeal allowed – Orders of the primary judge set aside – Matter remitted for rehearing before a judge other than the primary judge – Costs certificate granted to the appellant.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Practice and procedure – Show cause – Where the applicant was invited to show cause why the appeal should not be summarily dismissed – Where the applicant requires leave to appeal from the primary judge’s dismissal of his disqualification application – Where the primary judge dismissed all extant proceedings in reliance upon s 102QAB of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) – Where the grounds of appeal lack merit – Where the appeal is an abuse of process – Appeal summarily dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Appeal from interim parenting orders – Apprehended bias – Discretion – Weight – Where the primary judge did not err in his treatment of s 60CC of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) – Appeal dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Appeal and cross appeal from final property orders – Where the parties agreed the primary judge erred – Primary judge considered material that was not relied on – Finding of fact contrary to the evidence – Orders for sale of property and division of proceeds expressed as lump sum instead of percentage – Error established – Appeal and cross appeal allowed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Where the father requires leave to appeal from an order dismissing his application to vary final parenting orders pursuant to the principles in Rice v Asplund (1979) FLC 90-725 – Where the father’s complaints as to procedural error are not made out – Where the complaints were, in reality, as to errors of fact and weight – Error of fact established – Where that error is not material to the determination – Where contended errors as to weight are not made out – Where the father’s dissatisfactions as to the role and conduct of the Independent Children’s Lawyer do not identify appellate error – Appeal dismissed – Costs ordered in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Costs – Where the primary judge made a personal costs order against the appellant firm that represented the second respondent wife in the primary proceedings – Where the appellant’s only opportunity to be heard was in response to an email from the primary judge’s chambers seeking two paragraphs of submissions on that discrete issue – Procedural fairness – Where the appellant was denied a reasonable opportunity to provide submissions or give evidence – Where the first respondent husband conceded the appeal – Appeal allowed – Costs order set aside.

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Property – Where the primary judge delivered reasons for judgment and determined that there should be a 65/35 division of property in the husband’s favour – Where the primary judge mistakenly relied upon the husband’s contentious balance sheet – Where the primary judge made arithmetical errors – Where the primary judge delivered supplementary reasons and purported to re-open the proceedings to accept the correct balance sheet into evidence and amend the arithmetical error – Where the fundamental error of assessing the parties’ contributions by reference to a materially incorrect pool cannot be assumed to automatically flow across to the correct pool – Appeal allowed – Matter remitted for re-hearing – Costs certificates granted for the appeal and the rehearing.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Provision of transcript – Where the appellant seeks to be relieved from the obligation to obtain the transcript – Where the appellant’s evidence seeks to establish she cannot afford the transcript – Where the transcript is not required for the appeal – Where there are no exceptional circumstances to justify the Court funding the provision of the transcript – Appellant relieved of obligation to provide the transcript – Application otherwise dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Application in an Appeal – Where the father seeks relief from the obligation to obtain the transcript of the primary proceedings – Where the father is currently incarcerated – Where with one exception the transcript would not inform the father’s grounds of appeal – Where the father should not be deprived of the opportunity to prosecute his appeal because he cannot obtain the transcript – Where the application is not opposed – Application granted.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Practice and procedure – Show cause – Where the appellant was invited to show cause why the appeal should not be summarily dismissed – Where the appellant appeals from final parenting orders – Where the appealed orders were made with his consent – Where the appellant alleges his consent to the appealed orders was not properly informed – Where the appellant is bound by the manner in which his lawyers conducted the proceeding for him – Where the grounds of appeal lack reasonable prospects of success – Appeal summarily dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – PROPERTY – Appeal from final property settlement orders – Where the husband complains of not being legally represented at trial after his lawyers were allowed to withdraw at the start of the trial – Where the husband did not apply for an adjournment of the trial – Where the suggestion the primary judge should have considered appointing a litigation guardian for the husband is rejected – Where the solicitors for the husband currently accept and act on his instructions without a litigation guardian – Where the husband argues the primary judge should have joined his two witnesses as parties to the proceedings – Where no application for joinder was made by the husband – Where the husband’s contention of erroneous factual findings by the primary judge is rejected – Where the grounds complaining the primary judge made mistaken findings which influenced the 10 per cent adjustment in the wife’s favour are unmeritorious – Where the grounds asserting an inadequacy of reasons are rejected – Appeal dismissed – No application for costs.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Review of decision – Where the applicant seeks review of the decision of the appeal registrar to dismiss her Application in an Appeal seeking reinstatement of an abandoned appeal – Where the failure to file the draft appeal index in time was the fault of the applicant’s previous lawyers – Where the applicant sought to immediately correct the default – Where the respondent admits the appeal evinces merit in some respects – Where there is more prejudice to the applicant if the appeal is not reinstated than to the respondent if the appeal is reinstated – Appeal reinstated.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Property – Where the appellant contends that the primary judge erred in removing a contended mortgage from the final asset pool – Assertions of factual error – Where contrary evidence does not of itself establish error – Where the evidence was not before the primary judge – Where the appellant is bound by his conduct at trial – No error identified – Appeal dismissed – Costs ordered in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – PARENTING AND PROPERTY ORDERS – Discrete issues for primary judge – Apprehended bias – Interventions by primary judge did not undermine presentation of appellant’s case – Complaint of errors of law leading to miscarriage of justice – Failure to consider evidence – No procedural unfairness from the primary judge’s refusal to accept amended proposed orders after close of evidence – Where many of the appellant’s particulars stem from a misunderstanding of the reasons and orders – No error established – Appeal dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Where the mother appeals from final parenting orders – Where the orders provide for the children to spend confined time with the mother once every three months under supervision – Where the mother does not make clear the nature of the alleged bias by the primary judge – Where the alleged prejudgement by the primary judge of the mother’s mental health is rejected – Where the refusal of the mother’s adjournment application neither constituted nor resulted in her denial of procedural fairness – Where the complaint of factual errors lack specificity and are rejected – Where the complaint of discretionary errors is rejected – Where the complaint of inadequate reasons is not addressed in the Summary of Argument and is rejected – Appeal dismissed – Where the father did not seek an order as to costs – Where the mother’s penury precludes any costs order against her in favour of the Independent Children’s Lawyer – No order as to costs.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Leave to appeal – Property – Injunction – Third parties – Where the primary judge extended an injunction granting the respondent wife exclusive occupation over the former matrimonial home on the basis that the wife had an arguable case for relief under both s 79 and s 106B of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“the Act”) – Where the applicant is a third party who purchased the former matrimonial home from the second respondent husband, unbeknownst to the wife – Whether s 114(1) of the Act is a sufficient head of power to found an injunction against a third party – Where the primary judge clearly had jurisdiction to make an order granting the wife exclusive occupation – Whether the primary judge correctly applied the test for the grant of an interlocutory injunction – Where the wife’s underlying 106B claim is clearly arguable – Adequacy of reasons – Where the urgent reasons of the primary judge are brief, but nonetheless clear – Whether the primary judge failed to consider the matters set out in s 90AF of the Act – Where the injunction was reasonably appropriate and adapted to the eventual effecting of a division of property between the husband and wife – No error identified – Leave to appeal refused – Appeal dismissed.

CROSS-APPEAL – Leave to appeal –Where the cross-appeal was expressly premised upon the appeal succeeding – Where the cross-appeal falls away with the dismissal of the appeal – Leave to cross-appeal refused – Costs ordered in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – DISQUALIFICATION – Where two business days before the hearing of the appeal before the Full Court the appellant filed an application seeking disqualification of two members of the bench – Separate reasons provided by each judge – Where the appellant alleges apprehended bias of a judge in the appeal – Where the appellant failed to articulate how an objective bystander could reasonably apprehend bias of the judge – Application relating to the disqualification of the judge dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – ARBITRATION – Property – Where the appellant seeks to appeal the decision to dismiss his application for review of a registered arbitral award pursuant to s 13J of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) – Where the grounds of appeal do not identify any error in respect to a question of law on the part of the primary judge – Where the complaints raised by the appellant merely reflect the submissions made on review before the primary judge – Adequacy of reasons – Where the appellant complains that there was no transcript from the arbitral hearing – Where the appellant was at liberty to supplement that deficiency in the record, but did not do so – Where the absence of transcript is not a passport to a new trial – Appeal dismissed – Appellant to pay the respondent’s costs of the appeal in a fixed sum.

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – COSTS – Where costs orders were made in the absence of the appellant – Where the appellant appeals those orders – Where it is contended that given the existence of a substantive appeal, it was practically reasonable to request that the appellate court address the primary judge’s costs judgment – Where the appellant has not exhausted all reasonably available remedial options at first instance before appealing the primary judge’s decision – Costs appeal dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – STAY – Application for stay of orders pending application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia – Subject orders require the applicant to transfer his interest in a property to the respondent and pay her a fixed sum – Applicant asserts he will suffer irredeemable prejudice if a stay is not granted – Absence of evidence as to the applicant’s financial position – Prospects of a grant of special leave are not substantial – Balance of convenience favours the respondent – Respondent concedes stay of order for transfer of property – Order made for payment of a fixed sum to a controlled monies account pending the outcome of the special leave application – Application otherwise dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Extension of time – Where the applicant seeks an extension of time in which to file a Notice of Appeal – Where the application is opposed by the respondent – Where the applicant advances no satisfactory explanation for the 10 month delay – Where the appeal enjoys no merit – Where no prejudice can be suffered by the dismissal of an unmeritorious appeal – Application dismissed – Costs ordered in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – DISQUALIFICATION – Where two business days before the hearing of the appeal before the Full Court the appellant filed an application seeking disqualification of two members of the bench – Separate reasons provided by each judge – Where the appellant alleges apprehended bias of the presiding judge in the appeal – Where the appellant failed to articulate how an objective bystander could reasonably apprehend bias of the presiding judge –Application relating to the disqualification of the primary judge dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Actual bias – Apprehended bias – Where the appellant contended that the primary judge’s determination was tainted by actual or in the alternative apprehended bias – Where the appellant contended that the way in which the primary judge conducted the proceedings denied the appellant a fair hearing – Where the appellant contended that the primary judge prejudged the contributions and the s 75(2) adjustment – Where the primary judge did not make findings of fact on contested issues instead dismissing the appellant’s relief as a consequence of the appellant’s repeated failure to comply with directions – Appeal dismissed – Costs ordered in favour of respondent in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Appeal from divorce order – Where the appellant unsuccessfully contended Australia was an inappropriate forum and the proceedings should have been stayed – Where the respondent withdrew her divorce application in India and commenced proceedings in Australia – Where the appellant continues his application for resumption of conjugal rights in India – Grounds of appeal are broad and do not identify error – Appellant’s counsel made concessions at first instance which the appellant now ignores – Relevant factors considered – Findings open on the evidence – Decision not unreasonable or plainly wrong – Appeal dismissed – Appellant to pay the respondent’s costs.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Property – Where the appellant contends it was not just and equitable to make an order because the facts were analogous to Stanford v Stanford (2012) 247 CLR 108 – Where there are substantial differences between the matter and Stanford – Whether the primary judge conflated matters under s 90SM(4) and s 90SM(3) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) – Considerations under s 90SM(4) can be taken into account in determining whether it is just and equitable to make orders for property division – Whether the primary judge erred in assessing the cost of the parties’ unmet needs – Orders based on the parties’ various contributions – Any error in identifying and quantifying needs had no impact on the outcome – No error established – Appeal dismissed – Appellant to pay the respondent’s costs.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Leave to appeal – Where leave to appeal from procedural orders is refused – Where the appellant appeals the substantive orders of the primary judge, being final parenting and financial orders – Where the appellant’s grounds of appeal lack merit, are incompetent and not supported by the evidence – Appeal dismissed – Where the appellant was wholly unsuccessful – Costs ordered in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Review of decision – Where the applicant seeks review of the appeal registrar’s decision to reject her Application in an Appeal seeking leave to file an appeal out of time – Consideration of Whitmore & Whitmore [2022] FedCFamC1A 75 – Where the applicant seeks to appeal from orders finding she breached final parenting orders without reasonable excuse – Where the applicant contends the primary judge made an erroneous evidentiary ruling – Where the primary judge upheld the respondent’s objection to the applicant’s call for the respondent’s notes used to prepare affidavits –Where the loss of privilege by operation of s 122(6) of the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) did not render the notes admissible in evidence – Where the applicant was unable to show how the evidentiary ruling had any material effect upon the final orders – Where the explanation for the delay in bringing the appeal is unconvincing – Application dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – CHILDREN – Where the primary judge refused an international relocation application – Where the appellant asserts apprehended bias – Adoption of order identical to one of the parties’ orders sought not indicative of apprehended bias – Order made beyond power not indicative of apprehended bias – No finding of apprehended bias – Where the primary judge made an order placing restrictions on overseas travel for the child – Where the terms of the order applied to the child upon turning 18 years of age –Where there is no jurisdiction to make orders for a child once they have attained 18 years of age – Where the imposition of a $100,000 bond to travel overseas with the child was without reasons – Appeal allowed – Order varied as to international travel with the child – Costs certificates granted.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – LEAVE TO APPEAL – Interim spouse maintenance – Where appellant seeks leave to appeal from interim spouse maintenance orders – Where appellant failed to demonstrate substantial injustice –– Leave to appeal refused – Appeal dismissed – Appellant to pay the respondent’s costs in fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Provision of Transcript – Where the appellant seeks that the court provides the transcript – Whether transcript is necessary for appellant’s case – Application for the Court to provide transcript refused – Applicant relieved of obligation to provide the transcript – Application otherwise dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Appeal from final financial orders – Denial of procedural fairness – Adequacy of reasons- Where the primary judge made orders in relation to a property contrary to the agreed position of the parties and without notice – Where the primary judge erred in his treatment of s 75(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) in not taking into account a significant inheritance– Appeal allowed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Property – Forum – Leave to appeal – Where the primary judge made orders permanently staying the parties’ property proceedings in Australia – Where it is uncontroversial the parties have lived in Country B since 2009 and have been engaged in proceedings there since 2023 – Assertion of legal error – Where the primary judge correctly applied the “clearly inappropriate forum” test – Assertion of discretionary error – Where the primary judge correctly considered the juridical advantages for the appellant continuing proceedings in Australia – Assertion of factual error – Where it was clearly open for the primary judge to find that the parties had limited connection with Australia – No error identified – Leave to appeal refused – Appeal dismissed – Costs ordered in a fixed sum.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Appeal from final financial orders – Adequacy of reasons – Where the primary judge did not err in his treatment of s 75(2) and 79(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) – Appeal dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Property – Where the contributions of the spouses were equal – Where the net assets of the spouses be divided as to 60 per cent in the wife’s favour – Whether the primary judge erred in not considering the wife’s cohabitation with her partner – Where the husband was self-represented at trial – Where the husband is bound by his conduct at trial – Where there is no substantial injustice – Whether the primary judge failed to consider the effect of orders in monetary terms – Where adequate consideration was given – Appeal dismissed – Costs ordered

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – Practice and procedure – Summary dismissal – Consent orders – Where the wife appeals from a consent order providing for the husband to retain his superannuation entitlements – Where the wife was invited to show cause why the appeal should not be summarily dismissed – Where the grounds of appeal have no reasonable prospect of success – Appeal summarily dismissed.

Judgment delivery date:

FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – APPLICATION IN AN APPEAL – Adduce further evidence – Where the appellant seeks to adduce photographs of the respondent and immigration application documents to discredit the respondent – Application of CDJ v VAJ (1998) 197 CLR 172 – Where it is not established that if the evidence was before the primary judge the outcome is likely to have been different – Application dismissed.

APPEAL – PARENTING – Appeal from final parenting orders – Where the appellant pleads two grounds of appeal with numerous overlapping sub-grounds which did not elucidate the appellant’s complaint – Bias – Weight challenges – Factual errors – Failure to consider relevant material – Where the appellant disputes the primary judge’s finding that he engaged in coercive and controlling family violence – Respondent and Independent Children’s Lawyer oppose the appeal – Grounds of appeal are incompetent and misconceived – Decision of the primary judge not unreasonable or unjust – No error of fact or law established – Appeal dismissed – No order as to costs.