Skip to content

LGM Family Law

Application to adjourn family law proceedings

Application to adjourn family law proceedings
An application to adjourn family law proceedings must be based on valid grounds.
When considering an application to adjourn family law proceedings, the family court will consider in the contact of the relevant application, its duty to bring an end to parties’ financial relationships as far as practicable (s. 81, Family Law  Act 1975 (Cth)).
That duty, which applies too when the court is considering an application to adjourn family law proceedings, is supported by the stated main purpose of the Family Law Rules which is “to ensure that each case is resolved in a just and timely manner” (Rule 1.04 Family Law Rules 2004 (Cth)). The Court is required to apply the Rules in such a way that “gives an appropriate share of the court’s resources to a case, taking into account the needs of other cases (Rule 1.07 (e) Family Law Rules (2004 (Cth)).
The Rules are required to be applied in a manner that “promotes the saving of costs” (Rule 1.07 (d) Family Law Rules (2004 (Cth)).
If you need assistance seeking to adjourn family law proceedings or regards any other area of family law, contact our experienced Brisbane divorce lawyers or our divorce lawyers North Brisbane. We have the experience to represent you effectively in court. Where your matter is not already in court, however, we prioritize assisting our clients to resolve their family law issues without going to court.  You are also welcome to read on for further information right now………
In the case of Strahan & Strahan [2019] FamCAFC 31 (21 February 2019), the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia dismissed an appeal by the Wife against orders made by the trial judge, approving the order made by the trial
judge that had dismissed the Wife’s application to adjourn family law proceedings.  In that case, trial dates had previously been vacated on nine (9) occasions.
There had been ten previous appeals in the proceeding and by March 2017, the parties had spent in aggregate some $35 million in legal fees. The Wife asserted that the refusal of the trial judge to adjourn the trial date had effectively shut
her out of the family law proceedings.
However, the Wife had been on notice for five (5) months that the Husband was seeking family law property orders that the trial proceed with the Wife undefended if the Wife failed to prepare for trial.
The Wife’s application for adjournment was heard on the first day that the matter was set down for trial. The Wife was not present in Court. The Court had regard to the fact that the Wife had only given her Solicitor and Counsel appearing at that hearing instructions to argue the application to adjourn family law proceedings. She had evidently not prepared for the trial in the event that the adjournment was not allowed.
The Full Court upheld the decision of the trial judge not to allow any adjournment trial taking into account the following considerations which the Full Court considered outweighed any injustice to the Wife:

The litigation history, including the various solicitors’ firms that the Wife had instructed throughout the matter;
The impost upon public resources;
The impact upon other litigants seeking to avail themselves of the Court’s services;
The need to bring to an end the parties’ financial relationship.

The Full Court said that the Wife had not been shut out of the proceedings by any order made by the trial judge. Instead, the decision of the Wife not to appear personally or by her Counsel at the trial of the property proceedings had been entirely the Wife’s decision.
Contact our divorce lawyers Brisbane or divorce lawyers Brisbane Northside for advice if you wish to make an application to adjourn family law proceedings or if you need assistance with any other family law issues. We
prioritise assisting our clients to reach agreement with their former partners without the need to go to Court. If however court action becomes necessary or is already on foot, we have the experience to represent you at Court.
The information set out in this blog is not a substitute for legal advice. We recommend that you obtain advice tailored to your particular circumstances from our Brisbane divorce lawyers or our divorce lawyers Brisbane Northside.

The post Application to adjourn family law proceedings appeared first on LGM Family Law.

Procedural unfairness in family court

Procedural unfairness in family court
Procedural unfairness in family court hearings is a ground upon which a party may make an appeal to have court orders set aside.
Where a party appeals a court order and one ground of the appeal is procedural unfairness in family court hearing, the procedural fairness challenge must be considered first by the appeal court. This is because any denial of procedural fairness in regard to a material matter calls into question the validity of a trial process and the court orders that were made.  If the ground of procedural unfairness is made out, the proper course is for the court orders that were made to be set aside and the matter to be re-heard before a different trial judge.
Contact our experienced Brisbane child custody lawyers or our North Brisbane child custody lawyers if you need advice and assistance with lodging an appeal against any family court orders, whether relating to parenting or property matters. Be aware that strict time limits apply to lodging an appeal so that you should obtain advice on an urgent basis and avoid losing the right to appeal the trial judge orders.
We can assist you in all areas of family law, including regards parenting arrangements and family law property  settlement and spousal maintenance claims. You are also welcome to read on for further information right now………
In Tabb & Tabb [2019] FamCAFC 22, the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia, hearing an appeal from the decision of a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia (FCCA), dismissed the contention of the appellant father in effect that there had been procedural unfairness in family court hearing before the FCCA.
The Full Court said that natural justice requires fairness in all the circumstances.
Whilst the Full Court accepted that the trial judge had a times spoken over the fathir, raised his voice at him and  interrupted him as well as being argumentative with the father, the Full Court also acknowledged the role of the trial judge in keeping father to addressing the relevant issues in the matter rather than going off on tangents. The Full Court said that the trial judge should not have raised his voice as he had done. However, the appellant father had not  established as he needed to do in order to show procedural unfairness in family court hearing that the trial judge’s “interventions and conduct denied him the opportunity to present his case or might raise a reasonable apprehension of
bias”.
Whilst the appellant father failed on other grounds of the appeal, he succeeded in having set aside the order made by the trial judge that he be restrained from filing any further application without first obtaining leave from the court.
The Order had been made without notice to the father; the mother had not made any application for that order to be made. The Order did not indicate the source of power on which it was purported to be made and the trial judge had not given reasons for making that order.  The Full Court inferred that procedural unfairness in family court  hearing before the trial judge may have been sufficient for this order to be set aside but if it was not sufficient then the order was anyway set aside as a result of the trial judge’s failure to give reasons for it or to identify the source of power on which it was made and to apply the purported legislation.
Contact our child custody lawyers Brisbane or child custody lawyers Brisbane Northside for assistance if you have concerns that there may have been procedural unfairness in family court or require assistance with any family law matter.  We prioritise reaching agreement with your former partner without going to Court but we have the experience to represent you in Court should you wish to initiate or need to respond to, a family law action or lodge an appeal against any family court order.
The information set out in this blog is not a substitute for legal advice. We recommend that you obtain advice tailored to your particular circumstances from our Brisbane child custody lawyers or our child custody lawyers Brisbane Northside.

The post Procedural unfairness in family court appeared first on LGM Family Law.