Morcos & Lindon (No 3)

Morcos & Lindon (No 3) involved the applicants, Mr Morcos and the Trustees of the Estate of the Late Ms B, and the respondent, Ms Lindon, along with the Executor of the Estate of the Late Ms B. The dispute centred on the substitution or joinder of parties, an application for a stay pending appeal, and a slip rule application concerning the distribution of property. The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1) was tasked with resolving these issues.

The court first considered the application by the Trustees to be substituted or joined in place of the Executor, who was also the husband, following his resignation and appointment of new beneficiaries. The court clarified that the Trustees were seeking to be joined rather than substituted. However, the application was not pursued as it was redundant to the husband's relief. The court found that the Trustees' application should have been framed as an Application in an Appeal, and thus dismissed it. Regarding the stay pending appeal, while the Trustees did not pursue the stay, the husband did, and the court granted the stay on specific paragraphs of the final orders.

In relation to the slip rule application, the court examined the differing reliefs sought by the wife and husband and determined that some orders were not appropriate for the slip rule process. The trial judge was deemed functus officio concerning non-slip rule matters, such as making adjustments for capital gains tax (CGT) where no CGT evidence was presented before the court. The court also amended orders to refer to the correct caveat and adjusted the mechanism for property distribution as per the slip rule. The court ultimately dismissed the Trustees' application for substitution or joinder, granted a stay pending appeal on specific paragraphs, amended certain orders, and reserved the wife's costs for later determination.

The court ordered that the application by the Trustees seeking substitution or joinder be dismissed. Additionally, the court stayed certain paragraphs of the final orders pending the final appeal. The orders made on 20 January 2025 were amended in accordance with the court's reasons, and the wife's costs for responding to the Trustees' applications were reserved until after the determination of the appeal. These orders were subject to review or variation as per the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021.