Nixon and Nixon (No 3)

This case concerned an application before Senior Registrar FitzGibbon of the Family Court of Australia, brought by Mr Nixon (the applicant husband) and Ms Nixon (the first respondent wife), with L Capital Pty Ltd as an intervenor. The dispute involved the enforcement of existing court orders, the determination of interim maintenance payments, and the production of documents for a single expert valuation of certain companies. Ancillary issues included the payment of private school fees, limitations on the husband's access to funds, and reimbursement of monies spent by the wife.

The court was required to determine three primary legal issues. Firstly, the cumulative amount owed by the husband to the wife pursuant to various previous orders, with a significant discrepancy between the wife's claim of $60,573.40 and the husband's figure of $20,324.35. Secondly, the appropriate amount for interim maintenance to be paid to the wife after the expiration of existing orders, with the wife seeking $3,560 per week and the husband offering $2,000 per week. Thirdly, the court needed to address the production and exchange of further documentation required by the jointly appointed single expert for the valuation of the L and G Group of companies.

The Senior Registrar made several orders by consent and otherwise. These included an order for the husband to pay $60,573.40 to the wife by 8 October 2010, plus any accrued penalty interest and collection costs, with the wife then responsible for discharging the specified debts. The previous orders relating to these debts were to be discharged. The husband was also ordered to pay interim maintenance of $3,000 per week to the wife, commencing from 21 September 2010. Furthermore, the husband was directed to take all necessary steps to authorise certain entities to provide documents and information to the single expert by 8 October 2010, with provisions for the Registrar to execute such documents in the husband's name if he failed to do so. A consent order was made requiring the wife to retract a specific document sent to the single expert. The husband was also ordered to pay $6,250 for a monthly payment due in June 2010 and to reimburse an additional $6,220 from the proceeds of sale of a property, with the characterisation and ultimate responsibility for this latter payment reserved to the Trial Judge. The applications filed by both parties were dismissed, and future directions for final orders were to be managed by Registrar Field.