Porritt & Anderson and Ors

Judicial Registrar Loughnan considered an application concerning the distribution of funds held by solicitors from the sale of two properties, one at O and another at G. The dispute involved the quantification and allocation of various liabilities and entitlements between the husband and wife, including tax liabilities, accountant's fees, and adjustments for post-separation payments, before the remaining proceeds were divided.

The court was required to determine the order of priority for the payment of liabilities and the distribution of sale proceeds from both the O and G properties. Specifically, the court needed to ascertain the wife's taxation liability related to negative gearing deductions for the O property, the costs associated with holding and distributing the trust funds, the wife's capital gains tax liability arising from the sale of the G property, and the appropriate adjustments for payments made by the wife after separation. The court also had to determine the final percentage division of the remaining balances for both properties.

The Judicial Registrar ordered that the funds held by Messrs. Haydon Fowler Corbett Jessop Solicitors from the sale of the O property be paid out in a specific order: first, the solicitors' costs for holding and distributing the funds; second, the wife's taxation liability and associated accountant's costs; third, an adjustment payment to the wife; and finally, the remaining balance to be divided 57% to the wife and 43% to the husband. A similar order was made for the G property funds, with specific provisions for payments to the 2nd and 3rd respondents, the wife's CGT liability and associated costs, and the remaining balance divided 57% to the wife and 43% to the husband. The order also stipulated that each party was solely entitled to other property in their possession and appointed the Registrar to execute documents if a party refused to do so, pursuant to s106A of the Family Law Act.