subpoena

An assessment by a family consultant raised serious questions about the parenting capacity of both parents of children aged 6 and 7 years.  The consultant recommended that the child protection department be invited to intervene if concerns were...

A couple had been in dispute about a property matter and the wife’s firm of lawyers issued a subpoena to obtain confidential information. The husband submitted that this was a classic example of “fishing” as the firm did not...

Orders were made for a child aged 4 years to live with the father and spend time with the mother.  Two years later the mother applied to reverse the orders so that she became the primary...

A child aged 9 years with severe developmental delay had lived predominantly with the mother since separation and spent alternate weekends with the father.  The father requested increased contact after he remarried (re-partnered).  The mother then...

The judge accepted an application for a subpoena sought by the father to inspect medical and treatment records held by a State Government regarding the mental health of the mother....Read More

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...

Parents of a child aged 12 years referred the child to an assessing psychologist following their separation as the child was not coping with the separation.  The psychologist asked the parents to sign a form agreeing that...

The mother left the father taking two children aged 6 and 5 years.  The older child was fathered by a second man who took no interest in the proceedings.  The parents lived 180km apart.  The father...

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...

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 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...

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...