James and James

In the matter of *James and James*, Johns J of the Family Court of Australia was required to determine the disposition of real property held by the parties, who were also directors of Q Pty Ltd, the trustee of the Q trust. The dispute concerned the sale of a property located at R Street, Suburb S, Victoria, and the application of the proceeds from that sale.

The primary legal issues before the court were how the R Street property should be sold and how the proceeds of that sale should be distributed. Specifically, the court needed to determine the method of sale, the reserve price, the parties responsible for conducting the sale and conveyancing, and the order in which secured liabilities and other expenses would be discharged from the sale proceeds. The court also had to consider the wife's application filed on 28 October 2016 and the husband's response filed on 25 November 2016.

Johns J ordered that the husband and wife, in their capacities as directors of Q Pty Ltd, must take all necessary steps to immediately sell the R Street property by public auction. The sale was to be conducted by T Real Estate Suburb S, with vacant possession, and a reserve price of $550,000 was set. U Lawyers were appointed as the conveyancers. Upon settlement, the proceeds were to be applied first to the costs of the sale, then to discharge specified mortgages held by the National Australia Bank against both the R Street property and another property at 2 R Street, and any remaining balance was to be placed in an interest-bearing account pending further order. The wife's and husband's applications were otherwise dismissed, and costs were reserved.