Travelling with children after separation: international travel
Ashleigh John is a Family Law Accredited Specialist at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and practises extensively in Family, Relationship and Matrimonial Law.
Separation changes many things, one of which is your travelling checklist:
- Passport
- Toothbrush
- Other parent’s consent to children travelling
When parents have separated there is an expectation that they will obtain the consent of the other parent prior to taking the children out of Australia.
When parents have obtained orders relating to the care of their children this expectation becomes a requirement. Under the Family Law Act, if parenting orders are in place, a parent must obtain the written consent, in the prescribed form, prior to removing a child from Australia. Read the rest of this entry »
Risks with home renovations
Tony Cavanagh is a Director at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and specialises in commercial dispute resolution & litigation, and employment law.
A landlord engaged a ‘handyman’ to fix a range hood to the wall in a rented home. Three years later the range hood fell, injuring a tenant. The tenant sued the landlord for damages for personal injury. It was not in dispute that the handyman had been negligent with the installation; but it was also clear the handyman was an independent contractor so that the landlord would not be responsible for the handyman’s “installation negligence”. The legal basis for the claim was that the landlord was negligent in failing to make proper enquiry about the qualifications and competence of the handyman and that, because she did not do so, she had a personal liability to the tenant for her injuries. Read the rest of this entry »
Executor’s duties
By Michael McGrath
Michael McGrath is a Director at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and specialises in our Commercial, Property & Estates Law Team.
The Supreme Court of NSW recently delivered a judgment removing an executor for failure to carry out his duties to attend to administration of an estate.
The deceased had died several years prior and probate had been granted to two of the deceased’s children. Despite the time which had elapsed since the grant of probate, a property of the deceased in which the defendant executor was living had not been sold and the proceeds distributed to beneficiaries. Read the rest of this entry »
Lawyers are paramount in the administration of justice
Mark Sullivan is a Director at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and specialises in Family, Relationship and Matrimonial Law
Litigation in Family and Relationships law frequently involves highly emotive issues between family members. From time to time some clients urge their lawyers to raise arguments or to make claims which may not be able to be substantiated on the available evidence and they then become upset if their lawyer does not comply strictly with their directions.
When such circumstances arise lawyers need to advise their clients that they are officers of the Court and owe a paramount duty to the administration of justice. This paramount duty is reflected in the rules of professional conduct governing the practice of law and the existence of the duty has been summarised in case law as incorporating: Read the rest of this entry »
Can you be liable for misrepresentations when selling your home?
Tony Cavanagh is a Director at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and specialises in commercial dispute resolution & litigation, and employment law.
Under the Australian Consumer Law (previously the Trade Practices Act) there is a prohibition on misleading and deceptive conduct in trade or commerce. A recent NSW Court of Appeal case looked at whether the vendor of a private home, who had admitted misrepresenting the quality of the home, could be liable for a breach of this statutory provision.
The vendor and his wife had owned a home for several years. They obtained development consent to renovate it. The wife as owner builder, carried out the work over about two years and then advertised it for sale. A real estate agent was engaged to assist with the sale. After the property was sold it became apparent there was significant water penetration (contrary to representations as to the quality of the ‘rebuild’). The representation to the purchasers had been made both by the vendor and by his real estate agent. Read the rest of this entry »
The dangers of inaction
Tony Cavanagh is a Director at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and specialises in commercial dispute resolution & litigation, and employment law.
The NSW Court of Appeal recently considered a claim by an investor against the Commonwealth Bank, which failed to act on a written request, sent in September 2007, for certain high risk investments to be redeemed. The investor was aware that CBA had not acted on the request. Until mid December 2007 the investments could have been redeemed with little or no loss. After that, they significantly declined in value.
The investor sued CBA for breach of contract. It ultimately admitted breach, but argued the breach had not caused loss; that the investor’s own decision had caused or contributed to any loss and/or that the investor had failed to mitigate loss. Read the rest of this entry »
Appeal successful due to lack of procedural fairness
by Rose Laffan
Rose Laffan is a Senior Solicitor at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and practises extensively in Family, Relationship and Matrimonial Law
In the decision of Banks & Banks [2015] the Family Court was asked to consider an application by a father in relation to a child who had been taken to Thailand by the mother, who had then returned to Australia.
When the matter was first before the Court an order was made requiring the mother to cause the child to be brought to Australia by 20 December 2014. The mother did not comply with that order. Read the rest of this entry »
Lease incentive deeds – clawbacks a contractual penalty?
By Michael McGrath
Michael McGrath is a Director at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and specialises in our Commercial, Property & Estates Law Team.
It is common practice for particularly large corporate landlords to provide incentives such as fitout contributions or rental rebates to encourage tenants to enter into a lease.
The lease or incentive deed will generally contain a provision requiring the tenant to repay such incentives if the lease is terminated due to the default of the tenant (commonly referred to as a clawback provision). A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Queensland however has cast doubt on the validity of clawback provisions. Read the rest of this entry »
When will a liability not be a joint liability?
by Rose Laffan
Rose Laffan is a Senior Solicitor at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and practises extensively in Family, Relationship and Matrimonial Law
In determining the division of property between a couple it is not just the assets that are important. The recent case of Adair & Milford [2015] addressed the question of whether the husband’s tax liability was a joint liability.
In the first trial the Judge found that the husband had an outstanding tax liability at the time of the trial in 2014 of $419,000. The husband had given evidence that he was making PAYG instalments as well as weekly withholding tax at the time of the trial. The trial judge found that the effect of the husband’s evidence was to mislead the wife and to wrongly inflate the husband’s expenses. The trial Judge then went on to examine the husband’s income and found that he did have the capacity to have been paying the tax liability and concluded that it would not be fair to now attribute the debt as a joint debt. Read the rest of this entry »
Amalgamation of tribunals
by Rose Laffan
Rose Laffan is a Senior Solicitor at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and practises extensively in Family, Relationship and Matrimonial Law
The Tribunals Amalgamation Act 2015, passed by Parliament on 13 May 2015, came into effect on 1 July 2015. From that date the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, along with the Migration Review-Refugee Review Tribunal joined the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The amalgamation is expected to generate efficiencies and savings through sharing financial governance, IT and human resources. Read the rest of this entry »