WAILES & MILWARD

In the Family Court of Australia, Rees J considered an application by a father seeking unsupervised time with his children, against the backdrop of his history of exhibitionist behaviour and the mother's accusations of parental alienation. The court acknowledged the complexity of the risk issues involved, noting that these could not be definitively determined at an interim hearing, and that the matter had been expedited.

The primary legal issue before the court was how to best manage the children's time with the father pending a final determination, given the competing concerns regarding the father's past conduct and the allegations of alienation. A secondary issue concerned costs, arising from the mother's application to re-open proceedings after her solicitor failed to locate a subpoenaed document during the interim hearing, leading to unnecessary costs incurred by the father.

Rees J reasoned that, due to the unresolved complex risk issues, the children's time with the father would continue to be supervised. The court ordered that this supervision would be provided by the father's adult child, Ms Z Wailes. Regarding costs, the court found that the father had unnecessarily incurred expenses in re-opening the proceedings for the document to be tendered, and therefore ordered that a sum of $489 be paid to the father's solicitors from any final property settlement ordered to be paid to the mother.

The court made orders vacating previous orders and substituting them with new arrangements for the children's time with the father, specifying alternate Saturdays for one child and alternate weekends for the other, both to be substantially in the presence of Ms Z Wailes. Changeovers were to occur at a specific McDonalds restaurant. The orders also included details regarding contravention consequences and assistance for compliance, as set out in an attached Fact Sheet.