Millson & Halbert

In the matter of *Millson & Halbert*, Ms Halbert (the applicant mother) brought a contravention application against Mr Millson (the respondent father) in the Family Court of Australia. The mother alleged that the father had contravened final orders made on 27 November 2019, primarily concerning the children's schooling and supervised time with the mother.

The court was required to determine whether the mother had established a case to answer in relation to several alleged contraventions. Specifically, the court considered whether the father had failed to notify the mother of his ultimate decision regarding the children's schooling, failed to complete necessary intake forms for MM Services to enable supervised time, and failed to make the children available on specific dates for supervised time. The standard of proof for these contraventions was on the balance of probabilities, with the court noting that a stronger degree of satisfaction might be required depending on the seriousness of the allegations.

Justice Harper found that the mother had not established a case to answer regarding the alleged contravention of the schooling notification order. While the father had not explicitly notified the mother of his ultimate decision, the court considered his attempt to involve her in the decision-making process and the mother's broad supportive response to be a reasonable attempt to comply with the order, thus negating an intentional failure to comply. However, the court did establish a case to answer in relation to the father's alleged failure to complete intake forms for MM Services. The court also found no case to answer regarding the alleged failure to make the children available on specific dates for supervised time.

The proceedings were stood over to 23 June 2021 for mention, with directions for the father to file any affidavit concerning reasonable excuse and for both parties to file any application for variation of the final orders by 21 June 2021.