B & B (Costs Certificates)

The appeal concerned an application for costs certificates by both the appellant husband and the respondent wife following proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia. The dispute arose from an appeal where both parties sought to recover their legal costs.

The primary legal issue before the Full Court of the Federal Court was whether to grant costs certificates to each party under the *Federal Proceedings (Costs) Act 1981* (Cth). This involved determining if it was appropriate for the Attorney-General to authorise payment of costs to each party in relation to the appeal.

The Court reasoned that it was appropriate to grant costs certificates to both the appellant husband and the respondent wife. This decision was made pursuant to sections 9 and 6 of the *Federal Proceedings (Costs) Act 1981* respectively. The Court was of the opinion that such payments were warranted in respect of the costs each party incurred in relation to the appeal.

Consequently, the Court ordered that a costs certificate be granted to the appellant husband under section 9 of the Act, and a costs certificate be granted to the respondent wife under section 6 of the Act. These certificates indicated the Court's view that the Attorney-General should authorise payments to each party for their appeal costs.