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Binding Financial Agreements (‘BFAs’), also known as pre-nuptial agreements, allow couples to protect their individual assets and debt liability, and opt out of having their property settled by court orders, should their marriage, or de facto relationship, end. However, the case of Hoult & Hoult (2013), confirmed that unlike other Family Law remedies, such as separation and consent Court Orders, BFAs will not be set aside solely because they are unfair or unjust to one party. Instead, BFAs operate similarly to contracts by bi...

Family report writers are independent third parties who provide expert evidence to the court. Their knowledge, experience and skill in assessing family environments and preparing reports are extremely valuable to the Court’s decision making. However, as in all professions, some experts act unethically and breach their professional obligations. As a result, the integrity of their work – and the quality of their recommendations – may be called into question. This was the case in McElhinney & McElhinney, where the psycholog...

COVID-19 travel restrictions and social distancing orders have affected families across Australia. Particularly, for families with court-issued parenting orders requiring travel, it may not be reasonably practicable to follow these orders during this time. However, unless the contravention of an order falls under the ‘reasonable excuse’ definition in section 70NAE Family Law Act 1975, serious sanctions may be imposed against the parent. As this section is primarily concerned with protecting the child or parent’s health and safet...

Many family law litigants find themselves unhappy with Orders made by the Court.  Such unhappiness may arise at the interim stage of proceedings, or at the conclusion of a final hearing after a trial. It is important to understand that Registrars and Judges in the Family Law system in Australia are specialists in their field, and also generally have a lot of discretion in their decision-making process when deciding the case before them.  Often the decisions being made are in the context of complicated and conflicting law and...

Unfortunately, from time to time a party to property Court Orders will be in default of their obligations under Court Orders or a Binding Financial Agreement (BFA). This situation can arise whether the property Orders were made by Consent or by Order of a Judge upon conclusion of a trial. (Binding Financial Agreements are always made by Consent). This situation can be not only frustrating to one or both parties, but also costly.  At Sanicki Lawyers, we understand that Court Orders and Binding Financial Agreements are made to be c...