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Grandparents and Child Custody Applications

In a recent case, the maternal grandmother brought a child custody application in the Federal Circuit Court against her daughter and son-in-law who were at the time separated, seeking orders in relation to her six year old and four year old grandchildren. Initially the grandmother commenced proceedings seeking that the children live with her but later seeking that they have holiday time with her and weekend time each month.

The Judge noting that the grandmother had an extremely poor relationship with the mother and that the grandmother failed to understand the impact of her behaviour upon her child and grandchildren the Court considered what would be in the best interests of the children.  The case shows how important it is for your family law lawyers to provide an understanding to you as to what factors the Court needs to have regard to and what circumstances can be persuasive in particular cases. [...]  READ MORE →

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Family Court Can Make Property Orders Even Before Parties Separate

In an unusual case heard by the Full Court (the Appeals Court) of the Family Court in early 2012 the Court decided that in certain circumstances it is able to make a property settlement agreement even when the parties have not actually separated.

In this case, an older couple had both been married before and had adult children from their previous marriage. The wife became ill and needed to go into an aged care facility. There was no question of divorce and they were separated only because of her medical condition. Her adult children after seeking Family Law advice brought an application to the Federal Magistrates Court as her case guardians seeking property settlement orders that the home in which the couple had lived be sold and that she receive some of the proceeds of sale to pay for the bond and fees payable to the aged care facility. The husband wanted to stay in the home but agreed to continue paying ongoing expenses and maintenance for his wife to remain in the aged care facility. By the time the matter came to be heard by the Court the first time the wife’s condition had deteriorated to such an extent that she needed to be in high care where in fact it was not necessary for her to pay any bond. [...]  READ MORE →

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Family Law Act Changes to Property Settlement Agreement

An important recent change to a property settlement agreement came into force on 4 January 2010. The new laws apply to any property settlement agreement made either as a consequence of a divorce settlement or as a property settlement after the separation of a de facto or same sex couple.

The law was changed because of difficulties encountered by some separated couples who had entered into what they thought was a binding property settlement agreement but then found out that the agreement was not binding because it did not comply with all of the formalities under the old law. [...]  READ MORE →