Saville & Saville

In *Saville & Saville*, heard by Mushin J, the dispute concerned orders relating to the children J and R, born in 2001 and 2002 respectively. The proceedings involved applications regarding the children's living arrangements, parental responsibility, communication with the husband, and the inclusion of the husband's surname in their names.

The court was required to determine the extent of the husband's involvement in the children's lives, specifically whether he should spend any time with them, how he should communicate with them, and whether his surname should remain part of their names. The court also considered the wife's application for sole parental responsibility and for the children to live with her.

Mushin J made orders granting the wife sole parental responsibility for all major long-term and day-to-day decisions concerning the children, and that the children live with the wife. Crucially, all orders for the husband to spend time with the children were discharged, and the husband was prohibited from communicating with them except for sending cards on two occasions per year, with the wife having absolute discretion to withhold these cards if she deemed them inappropriate. The court also requested the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages to consider amending the children's birth certificates to remove the husband's surname. The wife was authorised to obtain passports for the children by consent.