Sperm Donors and Parental Rights

by Phillipa Kingswell Women who rely on male friends to assist them to conceive with no expectation that the donor would become the child’s parent can rely on the Status of Children Act to have control over who is named legal parent of their child, however if an appeal to the High Court is successful then this certainty may disappear. Under State law
Tags: Assisted Reproductive Technology, Family Court of Appeal, Family Law Act, Federal Circuit Court, High Court, parental rights, Parenting, sperm donor, Status of Children Act
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14 years and $40,000,000 later - the most expensive divorce in Australia has finally concluded!

by Arlene Stanovitch The Family Court of Australia has finally ended Australia’s most expensive divorce. The case of Strahan & Strahan is exhausting.  The parties’ married in 1994 and separated in January 2005.  They divorced in 2006. Shortly after separation in 2005, the Wife filed proceedings seeking property Orders in the Family Court of Australia.  The fact that the litigation lasted longer than
Tags: Case Law Update, Costs Order, Family Law Act, Matrimonial Property, Property, property proceedings
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Superannuation Splitting Orders - Bulow v Bulow

by Amy Chesnutt In property proceedings, the Court may make such orders as it considers appropriate in relation to the property of the parties of the marriage or relationship, which may alter the interests held.  It is, however first necessary to identify and value the existing legal and equitable interests each (or both) of the parties have in the property of the parties
Tags: Case Law Update, Family Law, Family Law Act, Superannuation
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Parental responsibility: what does this mean?

by Amy Chesnutt Parental responsibility can be the mythical creature to the uninitiated.  Many people (lawyers and laypersons) say the words, but unless you are in the know, it can be a confusing concept. Parental responsibility is a concept enshrined in the Family Law Act 1975.  It means all of the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law parents have in relation
Tags: children, Co-parenting, Family Law Act, Parental Responsibility, Parenting
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Am I in a de facto relationship?

by Arlene Stanovitch This is a question we are often asked by clients and in today’s society the answer is not always straightforward. Section 4AA of the Family Law Act defines a de facto relationship as one where the persons are not married to each other, not related and where, having regard to all the circumstances of their relationship, they have a relationship
Tags: De Facto Property, De Facto Relationship, Family Court, Family Law Act, Federal Circuit Court, Property, property proceedings, property settlement, Time limits
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Valuation Disputes

by Arlene Stanovitch One of the first steps in determining how property  should be divided is to identify and value the assets of the parties. Preferably parties are able to agree on the value of assets and no formal valuations are required. When parties cannot agree on a value then the Family Law Rules 2004 set out the procedure for appointing a single
Tags: Family Court, Family Law Act, Federal Circuit Court, Matrimonial Property, Property, property settlement, Single Expert, valuation disputes
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Rules of the Court cannot be instruments of injustice

by Myles Walker In the case of Whooten v Frost [2017] FamCA 975, the Court was asked to consider whether it had jurisdiction to determine the Wife’s application for property Orders in circumstances where:-   The Wife’s application was filed electronically at 7.40pm after the Court Registry had closed; Having suffered a serious farming accident, the Husband died only hours after the application
Tags: Court Rules, Deceased estate, Family Court, Family Law Act, Injustice, property settlement, Time limits
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Calculating time in family law matters

by Amy Chesnutt Ensuring compliance with Court Orders can be a tricky beast if you do not know what you are doing.  Usually, there are consequences contemplated in the Orders if a party fails to comply with an action by a particular date/time.  A crucial, but often overlooked, part of all family law proceedings is correctly calculating the time by which actions provided
Tags: Consent Order, Court Procedure, De Facto Property, Enforcement, Family Court, Family Law, Family Law Act, Federal Circuit Court, Implementation, Marriage, Matrimonial Property, Property, Separation
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Thorne v Kennedy - is your Financial Agreement vulnerable?

by Arlene Stanovitch The recent High Court decision in Thorne v Kennedy [2017] HCA 49 provides practitioners with a summary of the law regarding duress, undue influence and unconscionable conduct in relation to the preparation of financial agreements. Husband and Wife met online in 2006. He was 67 and she was 36. The Wife was living in the Middle East and the Husband
Tags: Binding Financial Agreement, Case Law Update, Family Court, Family Law, Family Law Act, Implementation, Marriage, Matrimonial Property, Separation
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Separation on overseas holiday! What happens? Hague Child Abduction Convention

by Crispian Carlowe Many children in Australia have parents that were born in a foreign country. It is common for these families to travel to the home country with the children for holidays or for the parents together with their children to move overseas for an extended stay. What happens if a separation occurs while the family is outside Australia and one parent
Tags: Australian Central Authority, Case Law Update, Child Abduction, children, Children Removed from Australia, Evidence, Extended Overseas Stay, Family Court, Family Law Act, Family Law Watchlist, Federal Circuit Court, Habitual Residence, Hague Convention, International Relocation, Parenting, Permanent Residence in Australia, Separation On Overseas Holiday, Travel or Relocate Overseas
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