Sozzi and Sozzi & Ors

Stevenson J of the Family Court of Australia considered an application by the applicant wife to review an order made by a Senior Registrar. The Senior Registrar had ordered costs against the applicant wife. The dispute concerned whether this costs order was appropriate at that stage of the proceedings.

The primary legal issue before Stevenson J was whether the Senior Registrar had erred in making an order for costs against the applicant wife, and whether such an application for costs should have been reserved for determination at the final hearing of the substantive proceedings.

Stevenson J reasoned that, in the circumstances of the case, the application for costs should not have been determined by the Senior Registrar at that juncture. Instead, the court determined that the issue of costs should be reserved for the final hearing. Accordingly, Stevenson J discharged the orders made by the Senior Registrar and ordered that the costs incurred by the second respondent, Mr B Sozzi, between 19 December 2019 and 24 July 2020, as against the applicant wife, be reserved to the final hearing of the proceedings.