Messias v de Barros

[2013] NSWDC 125

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

Messias v de Barros [2013] NSWDC 125

Hearing dates:

15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 May 2013

Decision date:

27 May 2013

Jurisdiction:

Civil

Before:

P Taylor SC DCJ

Decision:

1. Order the defendant pay the plaintiff the sum of $90,000.

2. Reserve the question of costs to a date to be advised.

Catchwords:

DE FACTO RELATIONSHIP - property adjustment - financial contributions by defendant - no children - small adjustment

Legislation Cited:

Property (Relationships) Act 1984, s 4, s 5, s 14, s 18, s 20, s 21

Cases Cited:

Bilous v Mudaliar [2006] NSWCA 38
Burgess v Moss [2010] NSWCA 139
Ducker v Smith [2011] NSWCA 212
Evans v Marmont (1997) 42 NSWLR 70
Paino v Paino [2008] NSWCA 276
Prior v Brown [2011] NSWSC 1006
Separovich v Ferrao [2011] NSWCA 180
Sharpless v McKibbin [2007] NSWSC 1498
Wendt v Wood [2011] NSWSC 781

Category:

Principal judgment

Parties:

Nailse Messias (plaintiff)
Wilson de Barros (defendant)

Representation:

Mr J F Heazlewood (plaintiff)
Ms L Snelling (defendant)
Penhall & Co (plaintiff)
GP Legal (defendant)

File Number(s):

2010/272845

Publication restriction:

No

ex tempore Judgment

Background

1. In 1999, Wilson de Barros owned and operated an information technology business though a company called BITS International Pty Limited ("BITS"). Although based in New South Wales, Mr de Barros often travelled internationally for work. He also regularly visited family in South America. He owned an apartment in Consett Avenue, Bondi and also owned a one-third interest in an apartment at Ramsgate Avenue, Bondi.

1. Nailse Messias was visiting Australia from Brazil as a tourist in 1999. She met Mr de Barros. She was 37 and Mr de Barros was 38. At some date in 2000 Ms Messias and Mr de Barros commenced a de facto relationship.

1. At that stage Ms Messias had overstayed her visa and was thus illegally in the country. She had no assets of any significance. She had previously stayed with her sister in an apartment and she did casual cleaning work from which, when she worked, she received approximately $270 per week cash.

1. Mr de Barros lived in a leased two-bedroom apartment in Bondi. After spending an increasing amount of time staying with Mr de Barros at his apartment, Ms Messias moved into the apartment with Mr de Barros in 2000.

1. In August 2000, the parties arranged for Mr de Barros' name to be added to Ms Messias' St George Bank account. At that time the account had a negligible credit balance and Ms Messias retained the only ATM card capable of accessing the account. One of the purposes of the joint account appears to have been to assist Ms Messias to regularise her residency in Australia.

1. Also during 2000 Mr de Barros was in the process of purchasing a property in a place called Florianopolis in Brazil. The purchase was completed in February 2001. There was some evidence that the contract may have been entered as much as a year earlier,…