TEO & UNG

In the matter of *Teo & Ung*, Johns J of the Family Court of Australia considered a dispute between a husband and wife concerning property division proceedings. The husband had filed an application in Australia seeking final property orders, while the wife sought to stay these Australian proceedings until parallel proceedings in China were resolved. The husband opposed the wife's application for a stay.

The court was required to determine two primary legal issues. Firstly, whether the Australian court had jurisdiction to make final property orders and, if so, whether it was a clearly inappropriate forum, which would warrant a stay of proceedings. Secondly, the court considered the husband's application for an anti-suit injunction to restrain the wife from continuing her property division proceedings in China, given that she had also commenced divorce and property proceedings there.

Johns J reasoned that the Australian court possessed jurisdiction to make final property orders and that, as the Australian proceedings were commenced first and the court was not a clearly inappropriate forum, the wife's application for a stay of the Australian proceedings would be dismissed. Regarding the anti-suit injunction, the court found that the Chinese proceedings were not identical to those in Australia, as no application for dissolution of marriage had been filed in Australia. However, the court determined that the pursuit of a property division in China would be considered oppressive or vexatious, and therefore granted an injunction restraining the wife from proceeding with her application for property division in the City N Court in China pending the determination of the Australian proceedings.