The Family Court of Australia announced on 9 October 2014, its plans to move towards paperless court filing. All Family Court supplementary documents, such as amended applications, will now be able to be filed online. Documents can be filed on the Commonwealth Courts Portal at www.comcourts.gov.au The Family court plans to eventually use this platform […]
What is a Power of Attorney? A power of attorney (POA) can be an important legal solution that can also help you avoid costly complex legal problems. A POA is a legal document that allows a person to act on your behalf in financial matters. The person delegating the power is known as the principal […]
In Burton & Churchin & Anor (2013) the Full Court considered an appeal against the trial judge’s order that “the child would live with the aunt in France and that the aunt would have sole parental responsibility for the child” The father and primary carer for the child had died and the mother “could not […]
In Gardiner and Rivers (2014) FCC A76, Judge Lindsay considered a parenting case where the mother of a 3 and 6 year old applies to restrain the father’s de facto partner from attending the children’s time with their father. While the de facto partner did not present a risk to the children, she did self […]
Judge Brown of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia considered spousal maintenance in the case of Noble (2014) FCC A421. In this case the wife wanted her husband to pay her spousal maintenance. The wife received Centrelink payments and worked part time and the husband paid child support. The court considered the stark imbalance of […]
Before the new Succession Amendment (Intestacy) Act (2009), a person leaving a valid will would have their assets distributed according to the Probate and Administration Act of 1898. This act has stood for over 100 years. The most striking change in the new act is that the spouse of the deceased has a greater entitlement. […]
The Hague Conference on Private International Law is currently studying the private international law in relation to international surrogacy arrangements. Families are increasingly crossing borders and the discrepancies between the domestic laws in different countries give rise to complicated questions of private International Law. The challenges caused by the recognition of legal parentage by different nation states include questions […]
The Full Court of the Family Court dealt with the issue of the alleged primacy of parenthood in the ‘Yamada vs Cain’ case (2013). Often at court you hear the phrase “But I’m their mother…” which exemplifies a general expectation that because of parenthood a person is entitled to have their children live with them. […]
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, in association with Macquarie University, has launched the ‘Family Law TermFinder’, a web-tool that includes plain language explanations of common Family Law terms. This online resource aims to make the Family Law system more accessible to those unfamiliar with the legal process and language. The information provided by the web-tool is currently being translated into […]
In Richards v Parsons (2013) A mother from Canberra appealed the Federal Magistrates decision to prevent her and her 4 year old daughter from establishing a residence in Brisbane away from her husband. The mother had lived in Brisbane for a considerable time prior to proceedings and court had noted that “extreme violence had occurred” between the mother and the […]
