Burton and Gilbert

This matter concerned an application before Guest J in the Family Court of Australia at Mildura, involving Mr Burton (the applicant husband) and Ms Gilbert (the respondent wife), with an Independent Children's Lawyer representing their daughter, born in October 1998. The proceedings arose from the breakdown of the parties' marriage, their separation in March 2006, and subsequent difficulties concerning the child's welfare and the husband's contact arrangements. The court was required to determine interim orders regarding the child's living arrangements, the husband's time with the child, and communication between the husband and child, pending a final hearing.

The central legal issues before the court were the quantum and location of the husband's time with the child, and whether psychiatric assessments of the parties were necessary. The court also considered the child's expressed wishes regarding contact with her father, particularly her reluctance to travel to Melbourne and her concerns about spending time at the home of Mr and Mrs D. The court was tasked with making interim orders that were in the best interests of the child, taking into account the report of a Family Consultant, the affidavits filed by the parties, and submissions from their legal representatives.

Guest J reasoned that the child's best interests, as the paramount consideration, dictated that contact between the husband and child should occur in Mildura, where the child resided with her mother and her older half-sister. This decision was influenced by the child's clear wishes, as reported by the Family Consultant, to not travel to Melbourne and her expressed discomfort with the Ds' home. The court also ordered, by consent, that both the husband and wife attend psychiatric assessments nominated by the Independent Children's Lawyer, with a request for Victoria Legal Aid to fund these assessments. The court further ordered that pending further hearing, the child live with the wife, and detailed provisions were made for the husband's supervised and unsupervised time with the child, as well as telephone communication. These orders were made by consent in part, and by the court based on the evidence and submissions, with a view to promoting the child's stability and meaningful relationship with her father.