Hayat & Farra
[2024] FedCFamC2F 1043
•2 August 2024
FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA
(DIVISION 2)
Hayat & Farra [2024] FedCFamC2F 1043
File number(s): PAC 959 of 2023 Judgment of: JUDGE STREET Date of judgment: 2 August 2024 Catchwords: FAMILY LAW– Application in a Proceeding – payment of legal fees costs from trust account Division: Division 2 Family Law Number of paragraphs: 4 Date of hearing: 2 August 2024 Place: Sydney Solicitor for the Applicant: Ms C of B Law Firm Solicitor for the First Respondent: Ms J Kishore of Montgomery Legal Practice Solicitor for the Second Respondent: Mr J Hazelwood of NSW Family Law Specialists ORDERS
PAC 959 of 2023 FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA (DIVISION 2)
BETWEEN: B LAW FIRM
Applicant
AND: MR FARRA
First Respondent
MS HAYAT
Second Respondent
ORDER MADE BY:
JUDGE STREET
DATE OF ORDER:
2 AUGUST 2024
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1.Order 5(h)(v) made 19 April 2023, is varied to permit the release of $56,434.32 being overdue legal fees, as well as interest to be transferred to the office account of B Law Firm, BSB … into account number …85, and the balance of the funds held for the respondent husband are to be transferred to the trust account of Montgomery Legal Practice.
2.The Application in a Proceeding dated 24 July 2024 is otherwise dismissed.
Note: The form of the order is subject to the entry in the Court’s records.
Note: This copy of the Court’s Reasons for judgment may be subject to review to remedy minor typographical or grammatical errors (r 10.14(b) Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth)), or to record a variation to the order pursuant to r 10.13 Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth).
Part XIVB of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) makes it an offence, except in very limited circumstances, to publish an account of proceedings that identify persons, associated persons, or witnesses involved in family law proceedings.
IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under a pseudonym has been approved pursuant to subsection 114Q(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
EX TEMPORE REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
JUDGE STREET
These are property proceedings that were commenced on 27 February 2023. The solicitors for the first respondent (“the husband”) obtained the benefit of an order made on 19 April 2023, that held part of the proceeds of the matrimonial home on trust in the sum of $100,000 for the purpose of meeting fees. It is apparent that the husband has not paid the fees that have been rendered by his former solicitors, nor interest on the same, and those solicitors have brought an Application in a Proceeding for the release of the amount that is outstanding, together with interest from the trust fund.
There was an affidavit filed in support of the Application in a Proceeding dated 24 July 2024, together with a case outline dated 1 August 2024. That case outline clearly identified the basis of the entitlement. Ms Kishore, on behalf of the husband, contended that she wanted more time to put on an affidavit in order to deal with an alleged dispute concerning the fees. It is apparent that there has already been a dispute process pursued by the husband, unsuccessfully, in relation to those fees. The husband has had ample time to put forward material relevant to the alleged dispute, given the Application in a Proceeding was filed on 24 July 2024. An adjournment is not warranted in the interests of the administration of justice.
The Court accepts that the fees outstanding are ones to which the solicitors who formerly acted for the husband are entitled, and the funds in relation to those outstanding fees should be released from the $100,000 to meet the same. The Court has accordingly varied the order made on 19 April 2023, to permit the payment of fees to occur, with the remaining balance of the funds to be transferred to the trust account of the husband’s current solicitors, to be held on trust, in respect of further fees that he is incurring in these proceedings.
It is for these reasons that the Court makes the above orders.
I certify that the preceding four (4) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Ex Tempore Reasons for Judgment of Judge Street. Associate:
Dated: 6 August 2024
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