Danton & Lancaster (No 2)

[2024] FedCFamC2F 1464

FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA

(DIVISION 2)

Danton & Lancaster (No 2) [2024] FedCFamC2F 1464

File number(s):

DGC 1527 of 2016

Judgment of:

JUDGE JENKINS

Date of judgment:

2 October 2024

Catchwords:

FAMILY LAW – Parenting – application for stay of final orders pending an appeal – immediate risk to child of physical and psychological harm outweighs long term risks identified at final hearing – stay application granted.

Legislation:

Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth) r. 13.12

Cases cited:

Aldridge & Keaton [2009] FMCAfam 314

JRN &KEN & IEG & BLG (1998) 72 ALJR 1329

Division:

Division 2 Family Law

Number of paragraphs:

42

Date of hearing:

20 September 2024

Place:

Dandenong via Web Conference  

Solicitor for the Applicant:

Mr Dunstan

Representative for the Respondent:

In-person

ORDERS

DGC 1527 of 2016

FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA (DIVISION 2)

BETWEEN:

MS LANCASTER

Applicant

AND:

MR DANTON

Respondent

ORDER MADE BY:	JUDGE JENKINS
DATE OF ORDER:	2 OCTOBER 2024

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1.The Final Orders of 6 August 2024 are stayed pending the determination of appeal filed by the applicant mother on 14 August 2024.

Note:   The form of the order is subject to the entry in the Court’s records.

Note: This copy of the Court’s Reasons for judgment may be subject to review to remedy minor typographical or grammatical errors (r 10.14(b) Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth)), or to record a variation to the order pursuant to r 10.13 Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth).

Part XIVB of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) makes it an offence, except in very limited circumstances, to publish an account of proceedings that identify persons, associated persons, or witnesses involved in family law proceedings.

IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under a pseudonym has been approved pursuant to subsection 114Q(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
(EX TEMPORE)

JUDGE JENKINS:

1. These reasons were delivered orally and have been corrected from transcript.

   BRIEF BACKGROUND

2. This matter comes before me as an application to stay the final parenting orders that were made by this court on 6 August this year, (“the final orders”), pending the hearing of the mother’s appeal from those orders.

3. The final orders provide for the child, X, born in 2011 to move from living with his mother, who had been his primary carer, into the care of his father, and to spend no time with his mother, or have any communication with her for a period of about three months.

4. My reasons for those orders were published with the orders on 6 August 2024 (“the reasons for judgment”) and set out the full history of this matter. As such, I shall not repeat the contents of that judgment, save to note that a finding was made that X would be at unacceptable risk of psychological harm if he…