SULLIVAN & LITTLE

In the matter of *Sullivan & Little*, Hogan J of the Family Court of Australia made final orders concerning the living arrangements and parental responsibility for a child, B, born in 2007. The proceedings were undefended, indicating that the father did not participate in the final hearing.

The central legal issues before the court were to determine where the child, B, should live, who should hold parental responsibility for significant long-term decisions concerning the child, and whether the child should spend time with the father. The court was also required to consider the implications of the father's actions in discontinuing supervised time and filing a Notice of Discontinuance.

Hogan J ordered that the child, B, live with the mother and that the mother have sole parental responsibility for all major long-term issues, including education, religious and cultural upbringing, and health. Crucially, the court ordered that the child not spend time with the father. This determination was made in light of the father's discontinuance of supervised time with the child in September 2014 and his subsequent filing of a Notice of Discontinuance on 3 November 2014, which the court found to be in the child's best interests. The Independent Children's Lawyer was discharged.