Wei and Xia & Ors

In the Family Court of Australia, Austin J considered applications by the wife for interlocutory relief, including injunctions to preserve property and spousal maintenance, against her husband (the first respondent) and three other respondents associated with various corporations and a family trust. The dispute centred on the wife's concern that the respondents' actions, particularly the proposed extraction of capital from commercial entities, would prejudice her rights and entitlements in the substantive proceedings. The wife also sought spousal maintenance.

The court was required to determine whether injunctive relief was warranted to preserve assets, specifically in relation to four corporations and a family trust. This involved assessing whether the wife had established a sufficient proprietary or financial interest in the assets to justify restraining their disposal or dissipation. Additionally, the court had to consider the wife's application for spousal maintenance, evaluating the parties' respective financial positions and needs, and the husband's capacity to pay.

Austin J concluded that injunctive relief was appropriate in relation to three of the four corporations and the family trust, finding that the proposed extraction of capital by the third and fourth respondents would prejudice the wife's entitlements. The court granted injunctions restraining the sale or encumbrance of specific real property, the disbursement of certain monies, and the distribution of capital or income from the family trust. The court also imposed restrictions on the alienation of shareholdings, the issue of new shares, changes to directorships, and increases to director's loan accounts in respect of three of the corporations. Regarding spousal maintenance, the court found that neither party had an apparent capacity to pay maintenance to the other, given their expenditure exceeding their means, and that sufficient equity existed in their real property to meet their respective needs, thus declining to order spousal maintenance. The court also made orders regarding the exclusive occupation of certain properties and restrained the redraw or increase of loan amounts secured over specified properties.