FOSTER & MAILER

In *Foster & Mailer* [2015] FamCA 369, the Family Court of Australia considered an application by a mother for final parenting orders concerning her child, B. The father was currently imprisoned following convictions related to his conduct towards the mother and child, with his release date in 2017, subject to potential earlier parole. The mother sought orders for sole parental responsibility, that the child spend no time with the father, that the father have no communication with the child, and for liberty to change the child's surname. The hearing proceeded undefended.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether the orders sought by the mother were in the best interests of the child, as mandated by section 60CC of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), and whether to grant leave for the mother to proceed in the father's absence. The court was required to consider the specific circumstances of the father's imprisonment and the impact of his past conduct on the child's welfare.

Thornton J applied the principles of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), particularly the paramountcy of the child's best interests. The court considered the father's criminal convictions and imprisonment, which demonstrated a history of harmful conduct towards the mother and child. Given this history and the father's current incarceration, the court found that it was in the child's best interests to make orders reflecting the mother's proposals. The court granted leave for the mother to proceed in the father's absence, ordered that the mother have sole parental responsibility, that the child live with the mother, and that the child spend no time with and have no communication with the father, save by further order of the Court. The mother was also granted liberty to change the child's surname and place of residence without notice to the father.