NACAR & NACAR

This case involved a dispute between Mr Nacar (the applicant father) and Ms Nacar (the respondent mother) concerning the parenting of their four children. The primary issue before the Federal Circuit Court of Australia was the mother's unilateral relocation of the children from Victoria to Queensland in March 2019. The court was required to determine the children's living arrangements and the extent of each parent's responsibilities and time with the children, considering allegations of family violence and the father's mental health.

The court was tasked with determining the best interests of the children in light of the mother's relocation and the parties' conflicting accounts of family violence and the father's mental health. Key legal issues included assessing the credibility of the parties' evidence, the impact of the father's past alcohol and drug use and alleged family violence on his parenting capacity, and the mother's actions in relocating the children and seeking an intervention order. The court also had to consider the father's mental health reports, which indicated suicidal and homicidal thoughts, and the mother's stated fear of the father.

Judge Harland noted the lack of evidence presented by the mother regarding her family's support, contrasting it with the father's assertions of strong familial support. The court found that the father's evidence was coloured by the mother's relocation and that he tended to minimise his own role in the parties' difficulties. The court acknowledged the mother's fear of the father, supported by an interim intervention order and a family report indicating the mother presented as genuinely frightened. Despite the father's denial of family violence and his claims of the mother's aggression, the court found his explanations for certain incidents, such as scratch marks, unconvincing. The court also considered the family report's findings regarding the children's perception of the father's irritability and anger.

The court made final orders that the children live with the mother and that she have sole parental responsibility, with specific provisions for consultation with the father on major decisions concerning the children's education and health. The children were ordered to communicate with the father via Skype twice weekly. Interim orders were made for the children to spend time with the father every weekend, with changeovers to occur only between the mother and the paternal grandmother, who was to be in substantial attendance during the father's time. Both parties were ordered to undergo hair follicle drug testing.