Key decisions
- Mahoney & Dieter [2019] FamCAFC 39
- Deodes [2019] FamCAFC 97
- Coulter & Coulter (No. 2) [2019] FCCA 1290
- Anaya [2019] FCCA 1048
Children
Threshold hearing on Rice & Asplund – application dismissed
In Mahoney & Dieter [2019] FamCAFC 39 (7 March 2019) the Full Court (Alstergren DCJ, Ryan & Kent JJ) dismissed the mother’s appeal against dismissal of her application for variation of a final parenting order made by the Family Court Division of the District Court of New Zealand (‘NZ’) and registered in 2018 in Australia where the father lived with the parties’ child pursuant to that order. The order, made after a finding that the mother posed a risk of harm, removed the child from the mother’s care and permitted the father to relocate with the child from NZ to Australia, the mother to spend supervised time with the child during school holidays in NZ.
The mother later obtained a medical report that she was mentally stable, and applied to the Family Court of Australia for the child to spend unsupervised time with her (and ultimately live with her in NZ). Austin J dismissed the application as the mother had failed to establish a sufficient change in circumstances to warrant reconsideration of the order.