A 2 year old boy lived with his mother and spent time with his father.  The father sought an order by complaining that the mother had failed to arrange for the son to be present at a...

The father of a child aged 2 years sought an access plan involving a graduated approach where the time the child spent with him increased progressively. At the trial both the father and ICL agreed to...

The trial judge ordered that the father have sole parental responsibility for a child, that the child live with the father and visit the mother at the discretion of the father.  The mother appealed the orders....

The case involved a child aged 10 years who had by consent been living with the mother and spending time with the father.  The father applied for a change in orders for the child to live...

The case involved an 8 year old boy where there was dispute between the parents about access times. Child’s Wishes The boy spoke to a family consultant about the fairness of his spending time with the...

A father appealed against an order requiring supervised access visits, noting that his children had stated they wanted to live with him (child’s wishes).  The appeal judge noted opinions of other judges that increased weight could be...

The case involved three girls aged 11 years, 10 years and 6 years whose parents separated and disputed access strongly.  The older girls became very distressed and acted out, including by absconding from school and being...

The case involved a mother who appealed after her son decided not to spend time with the mother (reluctant to contact).  The mother had cared for the boy for his first 10 years, and an expert...

The case involved an appeal by a mother against orders made by a trial judge.  The couple separated after being together for 7 years and having two children.  In 2000 a judge ordered that the children...

The judge discussed the weight to give to the expressed wishes of a girl aged 9 years to live with her mother (child’s wishes).  The judge found the girl to be of above average intelligence and...

The case involved three girls aged 14, 12 and 11 years. The judge found the two older girls were strong-willed girls and that they had strongly expressed opinions, and it is inevitable their wishes must be...

Three children aged 13, 12 and 11 years expressed wishes about their future accommodation (child’s wishes).  The judge was satisfied that their wishes were genuine.  The judge ruled that, given their ages (especially 13 and 12...

An appeal by a father about access orders was allowed when a family report indicated that a child aged 13 years had changed her views about access (child’s wishes).  ...Read More

A father wanted to increase time with his two children aged 15 years and 10.5 years while the children preferred the status quo.  The mother agreed to the children’s time with the father increasing by one...

A father alleged that a boy aged 15 years had been beaten by the mother, and filed an affidavit that was allegedly written by the boy.  The judge found that the Court had not authorised the boy to...

The case involved two children aged 15 and 13 years who had lived primarily with their mother following the separation of the parents.  The judge found that the older child expressed a strong and clear view...

A judge placed little weight on the views of children aged 8 and 14 years (child’s wishes) as they had little contact with their father over the previous three years as the father could not locate...

A judge found that a child aged 10 years wanted to stay with his mother as there were more games at her house, and described this as the child responding in an immature way to a...

Parents of a child aged 12 years had engaged in dispute about access for 7 years.  The child then expressed a strong view to several professionals that she no longer wanted contact with her father (child’s wishes)....

Children aged 9 and 7 years expressed a preference for a week about shared care arrangement between their parents.  The judge found that the children had been exposed to the litigation and to the competing proposals,...

The Full Court indicated that a child’s wishes are important and should not be departed from where they are soundly based and have been expressed without influence from either parent and are expressed against a background...

A judge commented that whatever weight should be accorded to a right of freedom of mobility of a parent (relocate), it must defer to the expressed paramount consideration of the welfare of the child if that...

Two brothers aged 14 years and 11 years 3 months lived with their mother and expressed a wish to live with their father, with the mother opposing their wish (child’s wishes). Evidence was given that the...

Children aged 12 and 10 years had lived with their mother and spent time with their father.  Both children told an assessor they would prefer to spend more time with their father (child’s wishes).  Both children...

Parents had a daughter aged 11 years at the time of the hearing.  The mother left the daughter in the care of her father who lived in the USA.  The parents disputed care of the daughter...

Three children aged 7 years, 5 years and 4 years had been removed from the care of both parents on a short term custody order.  Both parents participated in polysubstance abuse and had other shortcomings.  The...

Parents of children aged 9 and 7 years lived interstate after their separation.  The mother was the primary carer.  The end of the relationship was traumatic for the mother, and the mother’s distress was evident to...

The child protection Department appealed a ruling by a trial judge to grant a further 12 month order when the Department had applied for the child aged 10 years to be placed in the Guardianship of...

Australia has two courts that rule on family law matters.   Federal Circuit Courts rule primarily on matters when parents separate and dispute time spent (custody and access) with their children, or when parents dispute the right...

The case involved an appeal against a decision by a trial judge in a Federal Circuit Court.  Allegations of sexual abuse were made about one child, and it was alleged that the mother had substance abuse...

The High Court ruled that an appellate court should be slow to change a final order reflecting a discretionary decision made by a judge on the basis of conflicting assessments about matters of weight to be given to evidence...

A father appealed an order that an 11 year old boy live with the mother and spend time with the father.  The judge found that the parents were unable to cooperate and that ongoing litigation had...

The judge noted that a rule of estoppel means that generally it is not in the interests of a child to have repeated applications concerning custody and access raised in a Court.  There must be an...

The Family Law Act refers to ‘reasonable grounds to believe.’  The judge found that facts that provide reasonable grounds for a suspicion or belief do not lead to a positive finding of abuse or violence. Probability...

A mother appealed an order that three children live with the father and the father have sole parental responsibility. The mother raised new allegations and wished to present new information.  The allegations referred to the children...

The case involved a girl aged 12 years whose parents had engaged in legal disputes for most of her life.  The girl lived with her father.  The mother asked the judge to change a final order...

Twin boys initially lived with their mother and spent time with their father.  The mother alleged that the father has exposed the boys to sexual abuse, leading to his contact being supervised.  The father appealed but...

A judge ordered that a 4 year old girl live with her mother and have restricted contact with her father.  The father appealed. The trial judge heard evidence that the father had been convicted of indecent...

A child aged 9 years lived with the mother and spent time with the father under consent orders.  The mother moved residence and then applied to change the consent orders to facilitate her relocation.  The father...

A child had lived with her father for five years and spent time with the mother following issue of final orders.  Evidence was given in the trial that the mother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia with symptoms...

When parents were separated, a mother on two occasions asked the father to take on increased care of their two children as she experienced difficulty parenting the son who had learning difficulties (unable to cope). One...

When the parents lived together the mother had been unable to cope with her young daughter while the father worked, resulting in the couple separating and in an order for the child to live with the...

Parents initially agreed by consent to a shared care arrangement where the child spent week-about with each parent.  The mother then relocated and asked to change the arrangement so that the child spent more time with...

A mother applied to change a final order that had been made three years earlier involving a child now aged 7 years.  The final orders were that the child live with the father and spend supervised...

A father asked to review orders for his 3 year old daughter 15 months after orders were issued.  The father claimed changed circumstances saying that he had formed a new relationship (re-partnered), his daughter was of...

A judge issued the following orders regarding two children aged 6 years: to live with their father and for the father to have sole parental responsibility for the mother to see the children at a contact...

The Appeal Court ruled that it should not lightly entertain an application to reverse an earlier custody order (change final order). To do so would invite endless litigation for change is an ever present factor in...

The Full Court ruled that in circumstances where abuse has occurred or where there is an unacceptable risk of abuse, access should be suspended until such time as the parent requesting access can show that there...

Parents had lived together for 3 years and had a son aged 4.5 years at the time of the hearing.  A GP observed physical damage to the boy’s rectum.  The boy had a history of difficulty...

A father raised 37 objections to findings and rulings by a trial judge.  The appeal court noted that the father disagreed with the judge’s opinions and findings, and the father pointed out that alternative findings might...

The case involved an appeal by a mother of a 6 year old girl against a ruling by a trial judge who found that the risk of sexual abuse did not pass the test of an...

A father taped an interview with a family consultant without consent and asked that the tape be admissible evidence.  The father argued that the family consultant was biased against him (partisan), and that the tape would...

The judge quoted from a previous case, “The balance of probabilities standard means that a court is satisfied an event occurred if the court considers that, on the evidence, the occurrence of the event is more...

The judge ruled that the seriousness of an allegation made, the inherent unlikelihood of an occurrence of a given description, or the gravity of the consequences flowing from a particular finding are considerations which must affect...

The High Court ruled, “…it is a mistake to think that the Family Court is under the same duty to resolve in a definitive way the disputed allegation of sexual abuse as a court exercising criminal...

Parents had agreed on appointment of a single expert witness to give evidence about a property matter.  When the report was obtained the husband obtained a further report from an adversarial witness to contest certain assumptions...

On the first day of a trial a mother asked that the trial be adjourned because of her medical condition.  The mother was asked to provide a full medical report about her condition.  The mother responded...

A mother alleged that the father had exposed three children to sexual abuse.  Independent assessments did not support this allegation.  The judge gave low weight to results of a psychometric test conducted by an assessing psychologist, but...

A family consultant provided a report when a mother applied to relocate with a child aged 7 years.  The mother submitted information from an assessing psychologist who had provided counselling therapy, where this information was provided in...

A couple had three children aged 7, 6 and 5 years at the time of the rulings.  The parents separated after 5 years of being together, and had been in dispute for at least 3 years. ...

A Court appointed expert assessed a family where a mother made allegations of sexual abuse by the father.  The report was adverse to the mother and the expert made a recommendation that was accepted by the...

A couple disputed parenting orders, with the father alleging neglect while the child had been in the care of the mother, and the mother alleging family violence by the father (mutual accusations).  The mother and her...

A trial judge ordered that a 5 year old child live with the mother and spend time with the father.  The father appealed seeking increased time. The trial judge had noted that entries in a communication...

A mother appealed rulings made by a trial judge that required the mother to return with two children after she had relocated inter-state to be nearer to family supports. Expert Evidence A family consultant had reported,...

The judge noted that it can be good practice for an expert to refer to two versions based on the facts provided by each party and then to provide expert opinion based on each version being accepted,...

The judge reported he gained an impression that the family consultant was significantly influenced by knowing that the mother had a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, and was influenced by research findings about people with anorexia nervosa,...

A judge ruled that if evidence tendered as expert opinion evidence is to be admissible, it must be agreed or demonstrated that there is a field of ‘specialised knowledge.’  There must be an identified aspect of...

Evidence was accepted from a family consultant although the consultant had not interviewed the children involved, and did not observe interactions between the children and parents.  The consultant had conducted a mediation session with parents to...

A trial judge ordered parties to attend an appointment with a family consultant.  One party wanted to be legally represented during interviews with the family consultant, but the family consultant declined to proceed under this arrangement. ...

A father appealed against a decision by a judge allowing a mother to relocate to another country taking an 11 year old child.  Evidence was presented including by the family consultant that the father consumed both...

The case involved a 13 year old girl whose parents had been in litigation for 10 years.  An order had been made for joint parental responsibility, with the child living with her mother and spending time...

A solicitor for a mother had provided material to a family consultant without the joint agreement of both parties so the father was not informed about the material and did not have an opportunity to respond...

After parents separated a child lived with the mother and spent time with the father who lived with a male companion.  The mother alleged that the child was sexually abused and withheld the child from the...

The couple had two sons aged 10 and 8 years.  Evidence from a treating psychologist was submitted despite objections from the father. The judge ruled that evidence from a treating psychologist was admissible but that the...

A separating couple agreed to refer their child to a child and family psychologist for 10 sessions, with both parents initially attending sessions.  The father then ceased bringing the child to sessions citing other priorities.  The...

A trial judge ordered a family assessment by an independent expert but ruled that counselling notes about the father not be provided to the expert.  The mother appealed, arguing that the father posed an unacceptable risk...

A father obtained a subpoena to obtain documents from the mother’s workplace, and the mother objected to the range of documents sought and the extensive time span covered. The judge ruled that a subpoena cannot be...

Mellick & Mellick 2014 FamCAFC 236 A trial judge granted sole parental responsibility to one parent and the other parent appealed.  The trial judge found that the two parents had not exchanged information and had not...

A wife referred to remarks made by her husband in a conference ordered by the court that made her fear for her safety.  The judge ruled that the information was inadmissible as evidence as the session...

A child aged 9 years attended a course of attachment therapy provided by an agency to promote contact with the mother (therapy for child).   The agency refused to provide material about the child’s participation in the...

A couple attended a joint family counselling session where the wife made admissions.  The husband subsequently applied for custody of their children and subpoenaed the counsellor’s file in support of his case.  The trial judge noted...

Two parents attended a family counselling session at an agency and later consented to documents about the session being disclosed to court and to the parties.  However the agency declined to provide the documents on the...

A mother issued a subpoena to obtain documents from an agency that had provided family counselling for her husband and herself.  The mother reported that a counsellor had described the husband as a sex and pornography...

A trial judge ruled that while documents produced by a subpoena were inadmissible evidence they could be viewed by parties.  The judgment was appealed in the Full Court who ruled that documentation by family counsellors was both...

The case involved an appeal by the mother where she was found to have contravened an orders without reasonable excuse.  The mother’s treating psychiatrist gave evidence that the mother had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, with...

A father alleged that a mother had contravened orders by failing to make their children aged 7 and 10 years available on seven occasions.  The mother had offered an excuse that the children had other activities...

Parents submitted a consent order that children transfer between the parents at set times.  The father submitted that the mother had contravened an order by failing to facilitate contact on nine occasions by not presenting the...

The judge requested that a family consultant be nominated to supervise compliance with parenting orders, or to provide case management or parent coordination....Read More

A mother of a child involved in a case denied under oath having  herself been, when a child, a victim of horrific repeated rape by her brother over many years.  The judge considered the mother denied...

After separation a mother wanted to relocate to another city where she would receive support from her extended family and would be better off financially. The father wanted to remain in the same city where he...

The Full Court stated that when considering a proposal for a party to relocate a court cannot require the party to demonstrate compelling reasons to relocate a child’s residence (burden of proof).  ...Read More

A mother applied to relocate to another city with her child so that she could re-partner.  The mother gave evidence that she would be devastated if she was unable to relocate, and she would be physically...

A judge restrained a mother and child aged 3 years from relocating more than 20 kilometres from the father’s residence unless the father’s consented (restrained from relocating).  The child spent 5 nights per fortnight with the...

Parents separated when the child was 3 weeks old, and the hearing was held while the child was an infant.  The mother asserted that she had no support network in the city and applied to relocate...

Parties migrated to Australia from a nearby country and had children.  When the parents separated they agreed that the children remain with the mother provided that she remained in Australia.  Two years later the mother wanted...

Evidence was given that the father of a 6 year old had a psychotic condition of schizoaffective disorder and had exhibited family violence.  The father’s own family had taken out apprehension of violence orders (AVO) against...

Before separation the mother had been the primary carer for two children aged 8 and 6 years.  Following separation the children lived with the father and spent time with the mother.  The mother had a diagnosis...

The case involved children aged 10 and 5 years who had lived with their father for 2 years and had supervised access with their mother.  The trial judge heard evidence that the mother had abused both prescription...

A mother of children aged 7.5 years and 5.5 years alleged that the father had been violent throughout their relationship and this had continued after their separation.  The alleged family violence included isolation, controlling behaviour, dominance,...