SHADDOCK & WREN

In the Family Court of Australia, Mr Shaddock (the father) filed an Application for Contravention against Ms Wren (the mother), alleging she contravened parenting orders made on 15 December 2011 by failing to make the children available for time with him on the weekend commencing 7 June 2013 and during the school holidays commencing 3 July 2013. The mother also filed an application for costs.

The court was required to determine whether the mother had contravened the parenting orders and, if so, whether she had a reasonable excuse for such contravention. Additionally, the court needed to consider the mother's application for costs, particularly in light of subsequent consent orders made on 18 July 2013 that were silent on the issue of costs.

Regarding the contravention alleged for 7 June 2013, the court accepted the mother's evidence that she had a reasonable excuse. This was based on the children's prior communications with the father indicating their unavailability due to the elder child's work commitments and the younger child's desire to attend a birthday party, coupled with the father's potential unavailability the following weekend. The court found that the mother reasonably believed the father had agreed to alternative arrangements. However, for the contravention alleged for 3 July 2013, the court found no evidence that the parties had agreed to depart from the clear terms of the December 2011 Order regarding the calculation of the midpoint of the school holidays, and therefore did not accept the mother's admission of contravention for this date.

The father's Application for Contravention was dismissed. The mother's application for costs was also dismissed. However, the father was ordered to pay the mother's costs of and incidental to a specific application filed on 4 February 2013, fixed at $1,530.20, to be paid by 21 April 2014.