Banis and Anor and Baghti and Ors

In the matter of *Banis and Anor and Baghti and Ors*, heard before Johnston J, the applicants, Mr and Mrs Banis, sought to enforce a debt owed to them by Mr Baghti against a debt owed by Ms Baghti to Mr Baghti. The dispute arose from an existing court order requiring Ms Baghti to pay a sum to Mr Baghti, which the Banis sought to have redirected to satisfy their own judgment against Mr Baghti.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether it had the power to issue a Third Party Debt Notice to compel Ms Baghti to pay a debt she owed to Mr Baghti directly to the Banis, thereby satisfying the Banis' judgment against Mr Baghti. This involved an examination of the relevant rules of court governing the enforcement of judgments and the mechanism of third-party debt notices.

Johnston J determined that the Court possessed the necessary authority under Part 20.4 of the *Family Law Rules 2004* to issue a Third Party Debt Notice. The Court reasoned that this rule provided a statutory framework for directing a debtor of a judgment debtor to pay the debt directly to the judgment creditor. Consequently, the Court ordered that Ms Baghti pay the sum of $91,080, which she was otherwise obligated to pay to Mr Baghti, to Mr and Mrs Banis. This payment was to operate as a discharge of her obligation to Mr Baghti under the prior court order. The Court reserved its judgment on the application for costs by Mr and Mrs Banis against Ms Baghti.