CARMAN & CARMAN

In *Carman & Carman*, the wife applied to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law Division) seeking to vary existing spousal maintenance orders and to vary substantive property settlement orders. The applications were brought pursuant to s 83 and s 79A(1)(d) of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth) respectively. The wife contended that her circumstances had changed, justifying a variation of spousal maintenance, and that exceptional circumstances had arisen relating to the care, welfare, and development of a child of the marriage, warranting variation of the property settlement orders.

The court was required to determine whether the wife had established grounds for varying the spousal maintenance order, specifically whether her circumstances had changed such that she was unable to support herself adequately and whether the husband was not reasonably able to provide ongoing support. Concurrently, the court had to consider whether exceptional circumstances had arisen concerning the care, welfare, and development of a child of the marriage, which would justify varying the property settlement orders under s 79A(1)(d).

Loughnan J found that while a child of the marriage had been diagnosed with a medical condition, and the wife was unable to support herself adequately, the husband was not reasonably able to provide ongoing support to the wife. Consequently, the application to vary spousal maintenance was dismissed. Regarding the property settlement, the court determined that although the child's medical condition constituted circumstances of an exceptional nature, the wife had not established that she or the child would suffer hardship if an order was not made. Therefore, this application was also dismissed.

The Amended Initiating Application filed by the wife on 21 December 2016 was dismissed, and paragraph 1.2 of the orders made on 15 July 2016 was discharged.