Donella and Donella (No 2)

In *Donella and Donella (No 2)*, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia considered an application by a father seeking to vary existing final orders concerning his time with his children. The father sought to increase his time with the children to equal time, approximately 19 months after the final orders were made.

The central legal issue before Johns J was whether there had been a sufficient change in circumstances since the making of the final orders to warrant a variation of those orders to provide for equal time.

Johns J dismissed the father's application, finding no material change in circumstances that would justify altering the existing final orders. The court applied the principle that a party seeking to vary final parenting orders must demonstrate a significant new circumstance that has arisen since the making of those orders, which impacts the children's best interests. In the absence of such a demonstrated change, the court upheld the existing orders.

The court ordered that the father's application for increased time be dismissed. The parties were given a timeframe to make written submissions regarding costs, with any determination to be made in Chambers.