Grant and Aiden

In *Grant & Aiden* [2011] FamCA 928, the Family Court of Australia considered two contravention applications filed by Mr Grant against Ms Aiden concerning alleged breaches of final orders made on 4 February 2011 regarding their five-year-old child, V. Mr Grant alleged that Ms Aiden failed to comply with obligations relating to telephone contact and the production of the child for time with her father. Ms Aiden, appearing unrepresented, denied the allegations.

The court was required to determine whether Ms Aiden had failed to comply with the orders without reasonable excuse, as required by sections 70NA and 70NAE of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth). Specifically, the court had to assess the evidence relating to an alleged failure to produce the child for time with her father on 20 July 2011, and numerous alleged failures to provide telephone contact between February and September 2011.

Justice Dessau found that the allegation concerning the failure to produce the child on 20 July 2011 was not proven on the balance of probabilities. This was due to genuine confusion and disagreement between the parties regarding the interpretation of the orders, the need for clarification which had been sought by Mr Grant, and a lack of conclusive evidence, particularly the absence of the after-school care person as a witness. Regarding the telephone contact allegations, the court found that Mr Grant's evidence was significantly undermined by telephone records produced by Ms Aiden, which contradicted his claims of no answer or no communication. Furthermore, other allegations made by Mr Grant were shown to be factually incorrect or based on misunderstandings, impacting his overall reliability.

Consequently, all remaining allegations in both contravention applications were dismissed as not proven. The court also noted that the child was not having healthy, productive telephone contact with her father and indicated a desire to address this underlying issue.