CHOU & LONG

In the matter of CHOU & LONG, Forrest J of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia made orders concerning the living arrangements and communication of a child, L LONG. The dispute involved competing applications for final parenting orders between the mother and the father.

The court was required to determine the interim living arrangements for the child, the extent of time the child would spend with the father, and the nature of communication between the child and the father pending a final determination. Further, the court considered the need for independent representation of the child's interests and the arrangements for the future conduct of the proceedings, including a trial date.

Forrest J ordered that the child shall live with the mother. The court further ordered that the child would spend time with and communicate with the father as agreed between the parents or as further ordered by the court. Crucially, the court ordered that the child's interests be independently represented by a lawyer, requesting the Legal Aid Office of Queensland to make arrangements for this. The competing applications for final parenting orders were listed for a four-day trial in July 2015. The father was granted liberty to file an application seeking more specific interim orders regarding time and communication if agreement could not be reached. Directions were to be made by a Registrar to prepare the matter for trial.