Legal Research
Cases
BEAUMONT & SCHULTES

BEAUMONT & SCHULTES

Case [2019] FCCA 1831 17 July 2019

Remedies

Statutory Construction

Family Law

Property Law

Type to search within this case.

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

BEAUMONT & SCHULTES

[2019] FCCA 1831

Catchwords:
FAMILY LAW – Property – de facto relationship of less than two years – where applicant has made substantial contributions in renovations of properties acquired solely by respondent – where applicant maintain serious injustice if alteration of property interests does not take place – Held no serious injustice – application dismissed.

Legislation:

Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), ss.4AA, 90SB, 90SM, Pt VIIIAB

Cases cited:

Delamarre & Asprey [2014] FamCAFC 218

G & G (1984) FLC 9-582
Jonah & White (2012) 48 FamLR 562
Johnson & Johnson (2000) 201 CLR 488
Lee & Hutton [2013] FamCA 745
Ollie & Norwood [2015] FCCA 71
Re F Litigants In Person Guidelines [2001] FamCA 348
Roy & Sturgeon (1986) 11 FLR
S & B(No.2) (2004) 32 Fam LR 429
Sinclair & Whittaker (2013) FLC 93-550

Applicant:

MS BEAUMONT

Respondent:

MR SCHULTES

File Number:

BRC 5230 of 2018

Judgment of:

Judge L. Turner

Hearing dates:

18, 19, 20 and 21 March 2019

Date of Last Submission:

29 March 2019

Delivered at:

Brisbane

Delivered on:

17 July 2019

REPRESENTATION

The Applicant appeared in person

Counsel for the Respondent:

Ms Gaffney

Solicitors for the Respondent:

Fallu McMillan Lawyers

FINAL ORDERS

A declaration is made that a de facto relationship existed between the applicant and the respondent from 1 November 2016 to 6 April 2018.
A declaration is made that the applicant made substantial contributions of a kind mentioned in section 90SM(4)(b) Family Law Act 1975.
A finding has been made pursuant to section 90SB(c)(ii) Family Law Act 1975 that failure to make an order under section 90SM would not result in a serious injustice to the applicant.
Forthwith the applicant at the applicant’s expense take all steps necessary and sign all such documents as required to remove any caveats held by the applicant over the respondent’s properties.
That within 28 days from the date hereof the respondent file and serve submissions as to any costs order being sought by the respondent including orders sought and details as to any offers of settlement.
That within 28 from the receipt of the respondent’s submissions, the applicant file and serve her response submissions as to costs including orders sought and details as to any offers of settlement.
Otherwise all other outstanding applications are hereby dismissed.

IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment under the pseudonym Beaumont & Schultes is approved pursuant to s.121(9)(g) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT
OF AUSTRALIA
AT BRISBANE

BRC 5230 of 2018

MS BEAUMONT

Applicant

And

MR SCHULTES

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

Introduction

The parties agree that for a short time they lived in a de facto relationship.
There are no children of the relationship.

Proposals

The applicant seeks a declaration that the de facto relationship existed between 21 May 2016 and 12 April 2018.
The respondent seeks a declaration that the de facto relationship existed between 29 November 2016 and 6 April 2018.
As the…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading BEAUMONT & SCHULTES

Details

AGLC: BEAUMONT & SCHULTES [2019] FCCA 1831
Case: [2019] FCCA 1831
Decision Date: 17 July 2019

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The applicant, Beaumont, sought an alteration of property interests against the respondent, Schultes, in relation to a de facto relationship that lasted less than two years. The dispute concerned renovations made by the applicant to properties solely owned by the respondent.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the applicant had established that serious injustice would occur if no alteration of property interests took place, as required by section 90SM of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth) for de facto relationships of less than two years.

Justice L. Turner held that the applicant had not demonstrated serious injustice. The court considered the contributions made by the applicant to the renovations and weighed them against the overall circumstances of the relationship and the respondent's sole ownership of the properties. The court found that while contributions were made, they did not rise to a level that would cause serious injustice to the applicant if no property adjustment was ordered.

Consequently, the application for an alteration of property interests was dismissed.

Orders