standard of proof

A father withheld children from contact with the mother on 3 occasions, citing reasonable excuses.   The mother alleged the contraventions were serious and posed a physical and emotional risk to the children by virtue of the contraventions precipitating...

A complaint was made to the Registration Board AHPRA about the conduct of a treating psychologist. A couple had received couple counselling from the psychologist, then decided to separate.  The wife continued to see the psychologist...

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...

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...

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...

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...