B Pty Limited & Anor and Sykes & Anor

The applicants, B Pty Limited and the Trustee of the bankrupt estate of the second respondent, sought to set aside property orders made in July 2008 between the first and second respondents. These orders had transferred the second respondent's interest in the matrimonial home to the first respondent. The application was brought under sections 79A and 79 of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), with B Pty Limited having taken an assignment of the Trustee's rights.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the consent orders made in 2008 should be set aside. This question arose in circumstances where the second respondent had subsequently been declared bankrupt and had failed to disclose the existence of at least two significant creditors to the court at the time the consent orders were made.

Aldridge J found that the second respondent had made deliberate and dishonest non-disclosures to the court. His Honour determined that these non-disclosures, along with the suppression of evidence and the presentation of false evidence by the second respondent, constituted a clear miscarriage of justice. Consequently, the court concluded that it was appropriate to set aside the consent orders made on 30 July 2008.

The court ordered that the consent orders of 30 July 2008 be set aside in their entirety pursuant to section 79A of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth). Furthermore, the court directed that the proceeds of sale of the property at C Street, Suburb D, held by the respective solicitors, be paid forthwith to the Second Applicant.