Harrell & Hancock (No. 2)

In *Harrell & Hancock (No. 2)*, the applicant father sought orders against the respondent mother. The matter came before Baumann J in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the mother should be awarded costs against the father, and if so, on what scale and in what amount. This arose in circumstances where the father had been wholly unsuccessful in his application.

Baumann J reasoned that the father's application was doomed to fail due to a lack of new probative evidence, and that his repeated applications justified a prior order requiring him to obtain leave before filing future applications. Considering these circumstances, the court determined that an order for costs was justified. The mother was entitled to recover a contribution towards her costs, and Legal Aid Queensland should not bear the expense of representing her. The court ordered the father to pay the mother a contribution towards her costs, fixed at $3,220.90, on the standard scale, payable within sixty days.