Marvel & Marvel

The case of Marvel & Marvel involves an appeal against parenting orders made by a trial judge in the Family Court of Australia. The primary dispute centred around the interim parenting arrangements for the child, specifically the time the child was to spend with the father and whether such time should be supervised. The appeal questioned the trial judge's handling of various legal issues, including whether the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility under s 61DA of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) was properly considered, whether the trial judge erred in making findings on contentious factual issues, and whether the submissions of the Independent Children’s Lawyer and other considerations were adequately addressed.

The court had to determine if the trial judge erred by failing to address s 61DA of the Family Law Act, which presumes equal shared parental responsibility unless there are substantial reasons to believe it would not be in the child's best interests. The appeal argued that the trial judge did not adequately consider this provision, which was an appealable error. Furthermore, the court examined whether the trial judge made findings on contentious factual issues without establishing appealable error, and if the submissions of the Independent Children’s Lawyer and other considerations were appropriately weighed. The court also scrutinised whether the trial judge's decision was influenced by the lack of a psychiatric report and the father's handling of inappropriate conduct by one of the elder children.

The court found that the trial judge's failure to consider s 61DA constituted an error, leading to the appeal being allowed. The court set aside certain orders made by the trial judge and discharged the stay order made by the Judicial Registrar. The mother's application to review the orders made by the Judicial Registrar was dismissed, and the orders made by the Judicial Registrar were upheld as being in the child's best interests. The court concluded that the best interim arrangements for the child involved regular time with her father and siblings, structured to mitigate the risks posed by the elder children's inappropriate conduct.