DALLEY & DALLEY (No.3)

This matter concerned allegations of contravention of parenting orders brought by the Father against the Mother. The dispute centred on whether the Mother had a reasonable excuse for alleged contraventions of orders made on 21 December 2015 concerning the children X and Y. The proceedings were before Judge Scarlett in the Family Court of Australia.

The court was required to determine whether the Respondent Mother had established a reasonable excuse for contravening specific parenting orders on 25 December 2015, 10 January 2016, and 17 January 2016. The court also needed to consider the appointment of an Independent Children’s Lawyer for the substantive parenting application.

Judge Scarlett found that the Mother had established a reasonable excuse for contravening the orders on 25 December 2015. However, the court determined that the Mother had contravened Order 4 on 10 January 2016 and 17 January 2016 without reasonable excuse, by failing to make the children available for time with the Father. The court ordered that the interests of the children be independently represented by a lawyer, pursuant to section 68L of the Family Law Act 1975, and requested Legal Aid New South Wales to arrange such representation. The parties were directed to forward all relevant documents to Legal Aid for the Independent Children’s Lawyer, who was granted leave to issue up to ten subpoenas without charge. The application was adjourned for further mention.