A parent wanting to move to be with a new partner, can pose real challenges. Here's a case that the court recently considered. Facts: The parties had 3 children, 5 year old twin girls and a 3 year old son. The parents lived in the Bendigo region where they had lived all their lives. [...]
All sorts of issues can arise when a couple separate, some are more urgent and serious than others. As the Family Law Act has no power outside of Australia, issues can become particularly challenging if they become international, eg a child is taken overseas, or money is taken overseas, etc. To stop a spouse leaving [...]
A couple were in financial difficulties and were likely to lose their family home. The mother of the husband agreed to help out the couple by selling her own home and providing them with the net proceeds of sale to prevent the family home from being sold. The mother agreed to provide the net proceeds [...]
Relocation cases are always difficult because there are often many legitimate competing interests that the court must consider, although the "best interest" of the child will always be paramount. Recently, a mother wanted to relocate to a new town with her 13 year old daughter. The mother had remarried and her husband had been working [...]
This is a common question. A divorce is an application to the court that dissolves the marriage. You have to have been separated for 12 months to apply for this. A divorce application does not address any other issues, e.g, property settlement or children's arrangements. You can commence property settlement negotiations or document an agreement [...]
It may sound strange but couples who separate do not have an automatic entitlement to a property settlement. Recent cases have emphasised that before the Court will consider making adjustments to a couples existing legal ownership of assets (by taking into account their respective contributions and future needs), the Court must separately decide that it [...]
From time to time, a spouse will propose to the Court that a property settlement not be finalised immediately, but that it be delayed. This delay could be suggested for various reasons, usually commercial reasons. The difficulty with this suggestion is that it is contrary to the legal requirements for financial finality. In a recent [...]
In any parenting case, the “best interests” of the children are the “paramount consideration” for the Court. That means that who the children "live with", how much "time they spend" with the other parent, and which parent has decision-making responsibilities (i.e. “parental responsibility”) will be determined by reference to what is in the "best [...]
A DNA test result provides a clear answer in paternity cases but getting a DNA Test is not always as easy as it may seem. To satisfy a court that an order for DNA testing should occur, an applicant needs to satisfy the court, under the specified tests, that there is a “presumption of parentage”. [...]
Many couples still adopt “traditional” roles during their marriage or de facto relationship. One party (often the husband) is the main “breadwinner” for the family, and the other party (often the wife) is the primary carer for the children and the main “homemaker” for the family. It is a common question whether the contribution each [...]
