Cun & Zhihui

The case of Cun & Zhihui before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia involves a long-standing property adjustment proceeding under Part VIII of the Family Law Act 1975. The Applicant Wife seeks an adjournment of the final hearing due to her counsel's unavailability owing to an impending medical procedure. The husband, who is self-represented along with the other respondents, opposes the application and seeks dismissal of the proceedings. The court had to decide whether to vacate the final hearing dates, which were scheduled to commence in three weeks, to allow the wife’s counsel to recover from surgery, and to determine the appropriate course of action regarding the husband’s application for dismissal.

The court considered the significance of the allocation of hearing dates and the difficulty in finding new dates. It also took into account the complexity of the case, with many issues raised by the self-represented husband. The court found it more desirable to have the wife's counsel, who has been retained for many years in these proceedings, present for the hearing. Therefore, the court decided to vacate the final hearing dates commencing on 15 August 2022. However, the court stood over the interim applications to be heard on 15 August 2022. The final hearing of all outstanding applications, except those referred to in Order 1, was set to commence on 1 May 2023 with an estimate of five days.

The court ordered that the final hearing dates commencing on 15 August 2022 be vacated. The interim applications, including those filed by the husband and the wife, were stood over for hearing on 15 August 2022. The parties were required to file and serve case outlines by 11 August 2022. The final hearing was scheduled to commence on 1 May 2023 and was not to be adjourned unless there were exceptional circumstances.