BLANCO & BLANCO (No.2)

In the matter of *Blanco & Blanco (No.2)*, Judge Harman of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia considered an application by Ms Blanco to review and set aside arbitral awards made in family law proceedings between herself and Mr Blanco. The dispute concerned the review of an Arbitrator's decision, specifically focusing on the circumstances under which an arbitral award could be reviewed and whether the Arbitrator's exercise of discretion, reasons, and costs award were legally sound.

The court was required to determine whether the Arbitrator's exercise of discretion was so unreasonable or plainly unjust as to constitute an error of law, whether the Arbitrator's reasons for the award were adequate, and whether the costs award was made on the basis of errors of law, including errors of principle or a failure to provide reasons. The court also considered the costs of the review application itself, taking into account the conduct of the parties and whether any party had been wholly unsuccessful.

Judge Harman dismissed both the application for review of the arbitral awards pursuant to s 13J of the *Family Law Act 1975* and the application to set aside the arbitral awards pursuant to s 13K of the *Family Law Act 1975*. The court found no grounds to interfere with the Arbitrator's decision. Consequently, Ms Blanco was ordered to pay Mr Blanco's costs for the determination of these applications, fixed at $9,674. These costs were to be secured as a charge upon Ms Blanco's interest in a specified property and payable either simultaneously with a payment required by the arbitral award or from her portion of the proceeds of sale of that property, whichever occurred first. All related issues were removed from the court's list of cases awaiting hearing.