Anton & Malitsa (No. 3)

In *Anton & Malitsa (No. 3)*, the Supreme Court of Victoria was asked to determine whether to grant an application for an extension of time to appeal a decision of the Family Court of Australia. The applicants, Anton and Malitsa, sought this extension in relation to orders made by the Family Court on 16 December 2022.

The primary legal issue before Cronin J was whether the applicants had established exceptional circumstances to justify the grant of an extension of time to appeal. This involved considering the reasons for the delay in filing the appeal, the merits of the proposed appeal, and the prejudice to the respondent if the extension were granted.

Cronin J applied the principles governing applications for an extension of time to appeal, which require a demonstration of exceptional circumstances. The court considered the applicants' explanations for the significant delay, the strength of their arguments regarding alleged errors in the Family Court's decision, and the potential impact on the respondent. After weighing these factors, the court concluded that the circumstances did not meet the threshold of exceptionality required to grant the extension.

Consequently, the application for an extension of time to appeal was dismissed.