The Family Court has no power to make orders in relation to unborn children. There is one limited exception however, and that relates more to the health and care of the pregnant woman. This exception is that a pregnant woman is able to make an application to the court seeking maintenance from the father for [...]
The answer is yes, but only in rare circumstances. Strictly speaking the order to compel is in reference to the child’s place of residence rather than the parent. A parent may be ordered to do all that is necessary to relocate the child’s residence but on a practical level this usually necessitates the parent moving [...]
In an interesting case, the court refused to make orders by consent as sought by the parents as the orders did not appear to be in the 'best interest' of the child. At the first court hearing orders were made for the child to 'live with' the mother and 'spend regular time' with his father. [...]
Unfortunately, parenting disputes often involve allegations of domestic violence by one or both spouses. In such cases, spouses often seek interim orders based on the alleged risk to the children and/or themselves as a result of the violence. The 'paramount consideration' for the Court must always be the 'best interests of the child/ren' and balancing [...]
Disputes often arise in family law cases about the value of a business that will form part of the matrimonial property and which will ultimately be under the control of one of the parties after settlement. Depending on whether the party is retaining or relinquishing their interest in the business, will often effect their [...]
The court recently considered a property settlement dispute where the wife had received a lottery win of $6 Million, six months after separation. The Facts: The parties had been married for 20 years. They had two children who were both adults at the time of the trial. Six months after separation, the wife purchased [...]
A mother has successfully appealed against an interim parenting order which included that she be prevented from breastfeeding her 11 month old child. The mother had been primarily responsible for the care of the child during the couple’s relationship. Following separation it had been agreed by the parents that the father would spend 3 hours [...]
A husband and wife delayed their property settlement until six years after separation. The Judge hearing the matter was critical of both parties for the delay in finalising matters and noted that the lapse of time since separation had greatly increased the complexity of resolving an otherwise straight-forward matter. It was contended that whilst [...]
Can you change your mind about a property settlement deal later, if the property valuation turns out to be wrong? The short answer is ‘No’. Once you have signed off on a property settlement deal in the form of Consent Orders and those orders have been issued by the court, then they are final and [...]
Parents can agree to vary the terms of existing court orders which relate to children. If both parents have agreed to a variation, prior to the time of compliance, then a parent cannot be in breach of the original order. A recent case demonstrates the point. The father filed a Contravention Application alleging that the [...]
