Baker and Green and Kettle (No. 5)

This matter came before O’Reilly J of the Family Court of Australia concerning applications made by both the mother and the father. The mother sought the appointment of a trustee for sale and also made contravention applications. The father had filed applications seeking a stay of child support orders, the purchase of audio tapes from the National Transcription Service (NTS), and for the mother’s applications to declare him a vexatious litigant to be dismissed. The father also sought the return of documents from [X] Lawyers.

The court was required to determine several legal issues, including whether to grant the mother's application for the appointment of a trustee for sale, whether to stay child support orders made by Justice Bell, whether to allow the father to purchase audio tapes of a previous trial, and whether to order the return of documents from the father's former lawyers. Additionally, the court had to consider the mother's applications to have the father declared a vexatious litigant and the appropriate costs orders for the various applications.

O’Reilly J dismissed the father's application for a stay of child support orders and his application for the return of documents from [X] Lawyers, ordering the father to pay the mother's costs for the stay application and [X] Lawyers' costs for the document return application, with limitations on the quantum of those costs. The father's application to purchase audio tapes was allowed, with the costs to be borne by him. The mother's applications to declare the father a vexatious litigant were also dismissed, with no order as to costs for those applications. The mother's application for the appointment of a trustee for sale was adjourned for a future hearing. Contravention applications filed by both parties were listed for hearing before Justice Carmody.