Yard & Rodd (No. 2)

In *Yard & Rodd (No. 2)*, the District Court of South Australia considered an application by the father concerning his child, following final orders made in June 2008. The mother had proposed a relocation, and the father sought to prevent this, arguing that the child's views and his own changed circumstances warranted a review of the existing orders. The court also addressed a separate issue concerning the mother's solicitor and her firm's continued representation.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether there had been a sufficient change in circumstances since the final orders were made in June 2008 to justify a variation of those orders, particularly in light of the mother's proposed relocation and the child's expressed views. The court also had to determine whether the solicitor's firm should be permitted to cease acting for the mother, given the solicitor had filed an affidavit in support of her client and subsequently ceased to act.

His Honour Faulks DCJ applied the principles established in *Rice v Asplund*, which govern applications to vary final parenting orders. The court found that the proposed relocation and the child's views, while relevant, did not constitute a sufficient change in circumstances to warrant disturbing the final orders. Furthermore, the court noted that the father's alleged changed circumstances were largely as foreshadowed in the previous hearing and did not meet the threshold for variation. The application was therefore dismissed.

Consequently, the father's application filed on 17 November 2008 was dismissed. The other orders sought in the mother's response filed on 8 December 2008 were withdrawn and also dismissed. The matter was removed from the pending cases list.