Bakir & Bakir

In the matter of *Bakir & Bakir*, Ms Bakir (the applicant wife) and Mr Bakir (the respondent husband) presented a dispute concerning property division and the husband's alleged disposition of assets without notice. The wife claimed that funds from a property sale had been inappropriately transferred to the husband's brother and associated entities, leading her to seek the joinder of these third parties to the proceedings. The court, presided over by Harper J, was required to determine the appropriate orders to progress the matter, protect the asset pool, and address the wife's claims regarding the alleged improper transfers.

The court was tasked with determining whether to grant the wife's application to join third parties to the proceedings and to make orders restraining the disposition of assets. Specifically, the court considered the wife's assertion that the husband had breached previous orders restraining him from disposing of assets without her notice, a contention the husband disputed. The court also had to consider the joinder of G Pty Ltd, Mr H Bakir, and J Pty Ltd as respondents, and whether to grant them leave to seek their removal from the proceedings.

By consent, the court made orders restraining the husband from disposing of or encumbering specific properties without the wife's prior written consent, and requiring the proceeds from the sale of another property to be paid into a trust account. Crucially, the court ordered the joinder of G Pty Ltd, Mr H Bakir, and J Pty Ltd as second, third, and fourth respondents respectively. Leave was granted to these newly joined parties to apply for their removal from the proceedings and for the discharge of any orders affecting them. Furthermore, upon the wife proffering an undertaking as to damages, the court made ex-parte orders restraining G Pty Ltd, Mr H Bakir, and J Pty Ltd from dealing with specified funds, including the proceeds of sale of 1 B Street, Suburb C, and any funds paid to them by the husband since December 2020. The proceedings were then stood over for further hearing.