Stroud and Stroud

This matter concerned orders made by Dessau J in the Family Court of Australia concerning children and property. The dispute involved the living arrangements and parental responsibility for the parties' two children, D and E, and the division of their property.

The court was required to determine the living arrangements for the children, the nature of parental responsibility, and the specific terms of property division, including the discharge of mortgages, payment of sums between the parties, and the transfer of various assets. Additionally, the court addressed the finalisation of spousal maintenance and the payment of outstanding school fees.

The court ordered that the children live with the wife and that both parties retain equal shared parental responsibility. The husband was to spend time with and communicate with the children in accordance with their wishes. Property orders dictated that the net sale proceeds of a development be applied to a specific line of credit, with the husband solely responsible for discharging the balance of that mortgage. Contemporaneously, the wife was to pay a sum to the husband, discharge a different loan and mortgage, and transfer her interest in certain shares to the husband, while the husband was to transfer his interest in the real property to the wife. In default of the wife's payment, the real property was to be sold. The orders also stipulated that capitalised spousal maintenance was to be paid from the wife's share, arrears were to be paid, and all future claims for spousal maintenance were dismissed. Outstanding school fees were to be paid from funds in a joint account and then from monies held in trust. The wife was also to resign as a director of a company and transfer her interest in a family trust to the husband. Each party was to be solely entitled to property registered in their name or in their possession, and each was to indemnify the other against liabilities encumbering their respective properties. Claims to each other's superannuation benefits were forgone. All existing applications were dismissed. By consent, the husband was to transfer children's bank accounts to the wife, and the wife was to make family photographs available for the husband to copy at his expense. The wife was also to return an e-Tag device to the husband.