SANDWELL & SANDWELL

This case concerned competing applications for parenting orders for two young children and orders relating to a Financial Agreement. The parties, Ms Sandwell (the mother) and Mr Sandwell (the father), had met in Thailand, with the mother, a Thai national, subsequently travelling to Australia and the parties becoming engaged. The mother sought orders for the children to live with her and for her to have sole parental responsibility for their long-term welfare, while the father opposed all overseas travel by the children. The mother also sought a declaration that a Financial Agreement signed prior to their marriage was not binding, or alternatively, that it be set aside.

The court was required to determine the parenting arrangements for the children, specifically with whom they should live and spend time, and the allocation of parental responsibility. A key issue was the mother's wish to travel annually with the children to Thailand to visit her family, which the father opposed. The court also had to consider the validity and enforceability of the Financial Agreement, with the wife seeking to have it declared not binding or set aside.

In relation to parenting, the court ordered that the children live with the mother and that she have sole parental responsibility for their long-term welfare, with specific provisions for informing and considering the father's views on such matters. The father was granted supervised time with the children, with a phased increase in contact over time, subject to his engagement with psychiatric treatment and drug and alcohol testing. The court also made orders restraining the father from photographing the children to suggest harm by the mother and restrained both parents from denigrating each other or extended family members in the presence of the children. Crucially, the court restrained the removal of the children from Australia and, subject to specific conditions including quarantine requirements upon return to Australia no longer being in place, permitted the mother to travel to Thailand with the children for up to four weeks in alternate years.

Regarding the Financial Agreement, the court declared that the Agreement of 12 March 2015 was binding on the parties pursuant to section 90G(1B) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), and dismissed the wife's application to set it aside.