WOTTON & TONER

In the matter of WOTTON & TONER, Judge Scarlett of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia considered an application by the mother concerning her 16-year-old child. The dispute involved the child's name change, the issue of an Australian passport, and permission for international travel, with the applicant mother seeking sole parental responsibility and the ability to change the child's name. The respondent father had not been involved in the child's life since birth and his current whereabouts were unknown to the applicant.

The court was required to determine whether to grant leave to proceed ex parte, dispense with personal service on the respondent, grant sole parental responsibility to the applicant, permit a change of the child's name, and allow the child to travel internationally and obtain an Australian passport. The court also had to consider the best interests of the child in making these determinations, particularly given the child's age and the long absence of the respondent father.

Judge Scarlett reasoned that given the respondent's prolonged absence and the applicant's inability to ascertain his address, it was appropriate to dispense with personal service and grant leave to proceed ex parte, subject to the applicant providing documents to the Child Support Registrar for forwarding to the respondent's last known address. The court found that it was in the child's best interests to live with the applicant mother, for the applicant mother to have sole parental responsibility, and for the child's name to be changed. The court also ordered the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages to register the name change and permitted the child to travel internationally and for the applicant mother to apply for an Australian passport on the child's behalf, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Family Law Act 1975 and the Australian Passports Act 2005.