FIELD & KINGSTON

In *Field & Kingston*, the husband sought an extension of time to comply with final property orders, having defaulted on a payment obligation. An enforcement warrant was already in place, and the husband's application was made pending a potential application for leave to appeal to the High Court. The wife opposed the husband's application.

The central legal issue before Altobelli J was whether the court had the jurisdiction to grant the husband's request for an extension of time to make the payment ordered. This question turned on whether the time stipulated for payment within the final property orders was a substantive provision or a mere machinery provision.

Altobelli J reasoned that the order for payment within a specified timeframe was a substantive provision of the final property orders. Consequently, the court lacked the jurisdiction to vary such a substantive provision. The judge dismissed the husband's application, ordering him to pay the wife's costs of the application. The matter was then referred for a further hearing concerning outstanding interim orders.