Wallace and Wallace (No. 2)

This matter concerned an application by the mother for costs and for orders restraining the father from dealing with settlement funds in interim proceedings before Berman J. The dispute arose in the context of family law proceedings, with the mother seeking specific orders regarding the payment of her legal costs and the management of settlement monies.

The court was required to determine the appropriate basis for awarding the mother's costs in the interim proceedings and to consider whether injunctive relief was warranted to secure the payment of those costs from settlement funds held by the father's solicitors. The court also had to consider the terms of any such injunction, including exceptions and notification requirements.

Berman J ordered that the mother's costs in respect of the interim proceedings be determined on an indemnity basis, either by agreement or by a Registrar. The father was ordered to instruct his solicitors, Salisbury Lawyers, to transfer a specified sum, plus interest, to the mother's solicitors' trust account. Furthermore, the father was restrained from instructing Salisbury Lawyers to disburse the settlement sum except for the payment of the mother's costs, with any remaining balance to be retained by his solicitors. The principal solicitor at Salisbury Lawyers was also ordered to notify the mother's solicitors of any instructions to disburse the settlement sum or of a notice to terminate their instructions, at which point the settlement sum was to be placed in an account operated by the Controller of Finance of the Family Court of Australia.