Lorre & Anor and Gronow & Anor

The District Court of New South Wales considered a dispute between Ms Lorre and Mr Farre (the applicants) and Ms Gronow and Mr Gronow (the respondents) concerning parental responsibility for a child, M.

The court was required to determine the arrangements for M's living situation, the time M would spend with the respondents, and whether the applicants should be permitted to obtain a passport for M without the respondents' consent.

The court ordered that M would have equal shared parental responsibility between Ms Lorre and Mr Farre, and that M would live with them. No formal orders were made regarding the time M would spend with Ms Gronow or Mr Gronow. Crucially, the court permitted Ms Lorre and Mr Farre to sign any necessary passport application for M, dispensing with the requirement for the respondents' consent, and allowed a sealed copy of the orders to be provided to the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade for this purpose. The matter was then removed from the court's pending cases inventory.