Gavin & Garden

The parties, Gavin and Garden, brought an application before the Family Court of Australia seeking to vary or set aside consent orders made under section 79A(1)(d) of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth). The core of the dispute concerned whether the circumstances met the threshold for variation or setting aside of those orders.

The court was required to determine what constitutes an "exceptional circumstance" and "hardship" for the purposes of section 79A(1)(d) of the *Family Law Act 1975*. This involved an analysis of the nature of the circumstances presented by the parties and whether they were sufficiently out of the ordinary to warrant interference with final consent orders.

In its reasoning, the court considered the established legal principles governing applications under section 79A(1)(d). It emphasised that the discretion to vary or set aside consent orders is to be exercised cautiously and only in circumstances that are truly exceptional and would otherwise cause significant hardship. The court found that the circumstances presented by the parties did not meet this high threshold.

Consequently, the application to vary or set aside the consent orders was dismissed.