Crestin and Crestin and Ors

The Full Court of the Family Court of Australia considered an appeal by the mother against orders made by a single judge. The dispute concerned the parenting arrangements for the parties' two children, a boy and a girl, who were aged 10 and 8 respectively at the time of the original hearing. The mother sought to appeal the primary judge's decision to dismiss her application for final parenting orders.

The central legal issue before the Full Court was whether the primary judge had erred in dismissing the mother's application for final parenting orders. This involved determining whether the primary judge had correctly applied the principles of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), particularly in relation to the best interests of the children, and whether the evidence presented supported the decision to dismiss the application without making final orders.

The Full Court found that the primary judge had not erred in dismissing the mother's application. The Court reasoned that the mother had failed to establish a prima facie case that the children's current living arrangements were not in their best interests. The primary judge had considered the evidence presented by both parties and concluded that there was no compelling reason to depart from the existing interim orders. The Full Court affirmed that the onus was on the party seeking to change existing arrangements to demonstrate that such a change was in the children's best interests, and this onus had not been discharged by the mother.

Consequently, the Full Court dismissed the mother's appeal and affirmed the orders of the primary judge.