Riain & Dohman (No 2)
[2024] FedCFamC1F 659
•26 September 2024
FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA
(DIVISION 1)
Riain & Dohman (No 2) [2024] FedCFamC1F 659
File number: SYC 2118 of 2021 Judgment of: CHRISTIE J Date of judgment: 26 September 2024 Catchwords: FAMILY LAW – PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Slip rule – Where final orders amended pursuant to the slip rule – Reasons which did not reflect intention of the Court amended – Correction made under slip rule. Legislation: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth) r 10.13(1)(e) Division: Division 1 First Instance Number of paragraphs: 9 Date of hearing: 24 September 2024 Place: Sydney Solicitor for the Applicant: Self-Represented Litigant Solicitor for the Respondent: Rockdene Lawyers, Mr S ORDERS
SYC 2118 of 2021 FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA (DIVISION 1)
BETWEEN: MR RIAIN
Applicant
AND: MS DOHMAN
Respondent
ORDER MADE BY:
CHRISTIE J
DATE OF ORDER:
26 SEPTEMBER 2024
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1.The Orders of 22 August 2024 be amended under the slip rule to delete $158,122 where it appears in order 13 and replace it with $300,814.
Note: The form of the order is subject to the entry in the Court’s records.
Note: This copy of the Court’s Reasons for judgment may be subject to review to remedy minor typographical or grammatical errors (r 10.14(b) Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth)), or to record a variation to the order pursuant to r 10.13 Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth).
Part XIVB of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) makes it an offence, except in very limited circumstances, to publish an account of proceedings that identify persons, associated persons, or witnesses involved in family law proceedings.
IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under a pseudonym Riain & Dohman, has been approved pursuant to subsection 114Q(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
CHRISTIE J:
Rule 10.13(1)(e) of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth) provides for variation of orders where they do not reflect the court’s intention.
At paragraph [8] of the reasons for judgment dated 22 August 2024 I set out the parties’ joint balance sheet (Exhibit 50). At line 10 of Exhibit 50, the parties agreed that there were encumbrances on the title of 1 and 2 B Street, Town C (the “Town C property”) which totalled $271,631. This was an agreed fact.
In the reasons I proceeded to determine all the contested figures in the balance sheet. At paragraph [82], when setting out the balance sheet following the findings about disputed issues, Item 10 was inadvertently omitted.
Accordingly, at [107] it was again omitted from those liabilities which would be borne by the wife.
However, it is plain from the Orders, in particular, Orders 10–12 that the liability was acknowledged and allocated to the wife.
By omitting the liability against the Town C property from the calculation, the maths in paragraph [108] was inadvertently affected.
The parties have confirmed that this omission is one which is amenable to correction under the slip rule.
Including the liability, the paragraph ought to have read:
The pool for adjustment is $4,589,975. Having regard to my findings above, in order for the parties to obtain the result which I have determined, it will be necessary for the net assets (including superannuation) of the husband to be $2,409,737. Accordingly, he will be required to pay to the wife a sum necessary to achieve the overall result. The sum is $312,071 but to take into account the outstanding costs order and the amount payable for the wife’s share of the single expert report, the figure should be reduced by $11,257 to $300,814.
It follows that Order 13 would be amended to provide: that the husband pay to the wife the sum of $300,814 within 30 days.
I certify that the preceding nine (9) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment of the Honourable Justice Christie. Associate:
Dated: 26 September 2024
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