expert evidence

The judge found that there was an unacceptable risk to children aged 15, 12 and 9 years due to a range of factors.  The father had been convicted of aggravated indecent assault of a child of the...

For three years after separation, children aged 15, 12 and 10 years had at the mother’s insistence spent time with the father only at the mother’s house.  The mother then severed all of the children’s interaction with...

  A trial judge made orders enabling the father to spend time with the children, conditional upon a number of factors including successful completion of a three month residential rehabilitation program and completion of parenting programmes.  The father...

The mother of a child aged 4 years at the time of the hearing had been subjected to intense and long term verbal abuse.  The mother applied to relocate to be with her extended family and to provide some relief...

A child aged 6 years had very significant disabilities, and the father had spent almost no time with the child in the past 6 years (long absent parent). The father was critical of the mother’s parenting, but his...

Four children had lived with their mother since separation and had recently recommenced spending time with their father.  The mother alleged significant and sustained physical and sexual abuse against both herself and the children but the father denied...

A mother stated that her continuing ability to parent a 5 year old child would be affected if the father spent unsupervised time with the child.  The mother alleged both physical and sexual abuse by the...

The father of a girl aged 5 years who acknowledged frequently watching adult pornography was found to have 518 images of child pornography on his computer.  The images were rated using a COPINE scale that showed...

A lawyer representing a father applied for two reports prepared by a family consultant to be set aside and for the family consultant to be discharged as the reports were not independent. The judge found that...

The father sought supervised time with children aged 9 and 6 years.   The mother alleged family violence and asked that the father have no direct contact with the children.   The children had witnessed an incident when...

The child was aged 6 years at the time of the hearing, and had been previously cared for by the mother, father and paternal grandmother.  The mother was aged 16 years when the child was born,...

Both parents migrated from Africa and separated after having a child aged 5 years.  Existing orders were that the child live with the mother and spend time with the father.  The father withheld the child after...

  A mother alleged that two girls aged 3 and 6 years had been subjected to sexual abuse by their father. The mother submitted 169 items of information to support her concerns. The judge found that,...

The mother applied for an AVO against the father, stating that she was afraid of the father and this was the reason for her to contravene an order.  The father objected to the AVO saying that the...

The case involved children who lived with their father and spent supervised contact with their mother.  Both the children and father saw separate treating psychologists.  A single expert witness had reviewed extensive material and had spoken...

A father applied to have unsupervised access with his child aged 6 years.  The father submitted reports from two assessing psychologists in support of his application. A report by one psychologist indicated that the father “does not...

A trial judge ordered that a father have sole parental responsibility for a child aged 3 years, and that the child live with the father and spend time with the mother.  The mother was ordered to...

An expert described an attachment bond as a psychological bond between a child and a primary carer in which the child looks to the carer for comfort and soothing in times of stress and anxiety. The expert...

A couple with an infant separated. Overnight stays The father applied to begin overnight stays for one night at a time when the child was aged 2 years and this was supported by a family consultant...

Both parents requested reviews of an interim order.  A child aged 4.5 years had lived with his father for four years after the mother left the family.  A judicial officer issued an interim order for the...

A mother left a relationship when the son was aged 6 months and moved to a distant location overseas. The judge ordered a shared care arrangement where the boy was to live with his mother and to spend...

A mother applied for sole parental responsibility to make decisions both about the daily welfare and long-term issues on behalf of a 2.5 year old child, even while the child was living with the father, including arranging haircuts. ...

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...

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...

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 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,...

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. ...

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 couple had 4 children, KB aged 7 years, TG aged 3 years and twins WB and JB aged 9 months.  The mother had two older children who were on child protection orders and who lived...