BENNETT & BENNETT

The Family Court of Australia considered parenting and property matters between Ms Bennett (the applicant wife) and Mr Bennett (the respondent husband). The dispute involved several issues, including the change of surname for the parties' three youngest children, the issuance of passports and overseas travel for these children, and the father's access to their school information. Additionally, the court addressed the division of matrimonial assets and debts. The father had been found guilty of assault and aggravated indecent assault concerning the children and had not spent time with them since the separation in 2016.

The court was required to determine the extent of the mother's parental responsibility concerning the children's surnames, passports, and international travel, and whether the father should be restrained from accessing their school information. In relation to property, the court needed to assess the contributions of each party, consider the impact of the husband's past behaviour on the wife's contributions, and determine the equitable distribution of the net matrimonial asset pool, including the former matrimonial home.

Regarding the parenting issues, the court found that all children expressed a strong wish not to see the father. Consequently, the mother was granted sole parental responsibility for the three youngest children, including the authority to change their surnames without the father's consent. The court also ordered that the children be removed from the Airport Watch List, allowing the mother to obtain passports and travel overseas with them as she deemed appropriate. Furthermore, the father was restrained from accessing the children's school information. In the property division, the court noted unexplained significant capital expenditure by the wife and acknowledged her substantial pre-cohabitation wealth and her role as the primary parent and homemaker. The court ordered that the wife receive 80 per cent of the net matrimonial asset pool, with the husband receiving the remainder.