Benham & Benham

In the matter of *Benham & Benham*, Ms Benham (the applicant wife) sought various orders against Mr Benham (the first respondent husband) and several other respondents, including spousal maintenance, interim property settlement, litigation funding, injunctive relief, and the transfer of proceedings from the Local Court to the Family Court. The proceedings before Rees J in the Family Court of Australia concerned these applications.

The court was required to determine several key issues. These included whether the wife had satisfied the threshold for spousal maintenance, the quantum of interim property settlement and litigation funding, the necessity of joining the second to fifth respondents as parties, the appropriateness of injunctive relief, and whether the Local Court proceedings should be transferred to the Family Court. The court also considered the costs of the proceedings, particularly in relation to the second to fifth respondents.

Rees J found that the wife was unable to support herself and therefore ordered the husband to pay periodic spousal maintenance of $1,190 per week, as well as lump sum spousal maintenance totalling $90,000. The court also ordered the husband to continue meeting certain property expenses and insurance costs. The applications for injunctive relief were dismissed due to a lack of clear evidence of a need to protect assets. The application to transfer proceedings from the Local Court was also dismissed, as the Local Court issues were not considered part of the single justiciable controversy before the Family Court. The second to fifth respondents were removed as parties, and the wife was ordered to pay their costs, fixed at $10,000, from any funds received from the property settlement. The court noted that the fourth respondent, acting as a legal practitioner for himself, could not recover professional costs.