Author: Simone Green

This case in 2013 involved the decision of the mother of a nine-year-old child to apply to change parenting orders made by consent in 2008, when the child was four. The father applied to the Full Court of Appeal to dismiss the application of the...

A recent case in the Family Court of Western Australia saw the primary care of three children aged 13, 12 and 11 awarded to the father’s ex-de facto partner rather than the children’s mother. This unusual outcome demonstrates that the child’s...

  Are your Family Law Court orders no longer relevant? Do you wish to change them? With changing circumstances, orders that have been made by the Court may no longer be practical or be in the best interests of the affected children. So it is...

    It is very difficult for a parent to move interstate or overseas with their children if their former spouse does not give permission. If the other parent opposes the move, the parent seeking to relocate will need to obtain an order from the...

Since 2009, de facto relationships have been included and defined in the Family Law Act 1975. Previously, when de facto couples had a legal dispute, it was handled by State law. The 2009 amendments provided for the family courts to have jurisdiction over...

    The Family Court can legally restrain a solicitor from acting for a client on the basis of a conflict. In a recent property proceedings case, (House & Altimas [2012] FamCA 625, 3 August 2012), the applicant husband applied for an order...

In many property cases, a business’s plant and equipment may need to be valued. But which valuation method should be used – an ad hoc sale approach or market value? Such a situation arose in a recent case (Martin & Crawley [2012] FamCA 1032 on...

We are commonly approached by people who are unhappy with orders that they have agreed to with their former spouse but now consider to be unjust.  This is particularly so in respect to property settlements. Once orders have been made, however, it is...

In recent years, the number of international family disputes has significantly increased. As a result, the number of international family law cases coming before the courts has also jumped dramatically. The increase in the breakdown of marital...

How often and for how long can young children stay with the non-resident parent? This is a common question in Family Law custody disputes. Studies have been conducted which seek to answer three related practical questions:  At what age and in what...