By Craig Nicol and Keleigh Robinson -
Key decisions
- Carter & Wilson [2023] FedCFamC1A 9
- Davis & Peterson [2023] FedCFamC1A 13
- Denys & Kellett [2022] FedCFamC1A 223
- Aitken (No. 6) [2022] FedCFamC1F 996
CHILDREN
Finding that mother’s withholding of child was controlling behaviour amounting to family violence under s 4AB Family Law Act in error
In Carter & Wilson [2023] FedCFamC1A 9 (10 February 2023), the Full Court (McClelland DCJ, Bennett & Campton JJ) dismissed an appeal from a decision of Jarrett J for equal shared parental responsibility of a six year old child.
The family report writer recommended the child live with the mother and the mother have sole parental responsibility for the child (at [43]). The mother alleged physical violence by the father.
The Court found the mother’s insistence on supervision and withholding the child from paternal time was controlling behaviour that was family violence under s 4AB(1) of the Family Law Act (the ‘Act’). The mother contested that finding.