BESTON & WESTLAW

In the Family Court of Australia, Ms Beston sought various interim orders against Mr Westlaw concerning property division, spousal maintenance, and child support. The dispute arose following the separation of the parties after a 17-year de facto relationship, during which they had two children. The court was asked to determine several urgent matters pending a final trial, including the removal of caveats registered by Ms Beston over real property used by Mr Westlaw for his business, the issuance of injunctions to restrain Mr Westlaw from dealing with property, and the provision of financial support.

The court was required to consider multiple legal issues. These included whether Ms Beston should be ordered to remove caveats she had lodged over two industrial properties in L Town, from which Mr Westlaw operated his business, and whether the balance of convenience favoured such removal. The court also had to determine whether to grant injunctions restraining Mr Westlaw from dealing with various assets pending trial, and whether to restrict his use of business funds. Additionally, the court considered applications for interim spousal maintenance for Ms Beston, child support, and the return of the children to their previous schools.

Regarding the caveats, the court found that Ms Beston had an arguable case for a constructive trust over the L Town properties, based on her claimed financial and non-financial contributions, and that this issue required determination at trial. Consequently, the court was not satisfied that the balance of convenience necessitated the immediate removal of the caveats. However, the court was satisfied that failing to grant injunctions restraining Mr Westlaw from dealing with property would create a real risk of further reducing the assets available for final division. The court also found that Ms Beston had a need for spousal maintenance, and made a departure order for child support to cover the period until trial.

The court made orders restraining Mr Westlaw from selling, transferring, or otherwise disposing of specified real and personal property without prior written consent or further court order. Mr Westlaw was also restrained from drawing money from bank or loan accounts except for specified purposes, including the day-to-day operation of his business, compliance with court orders, reasonable personal expenditure, and minimum debt repayments. The court ordered Mr Westlaw to pay certain expenses, including mortgage payments, rates, lease payments for Ms Beston's car, credit card payments, and to indemnify Ms Beston against certain liabilities. Ms Beston was restrained from using specific credit card accounts. The court ordered Mr Westlaw to pay Ms Beston $500 per week by way of spousal maintenance and varied the annual child support payable to $37,142. The court also ordered extensive disclosure from Mr Westlaw and appointed single experts to value the parties' interests in certain entities and properties.