ByLawyers News and Updates

Family Law – Reference Manual – 101 Family Law Answers

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The Reference Manual – 101 Family Law Answers is the first of the By Lawyers reference manuals to be updated to the new stylish format.

As well as the new format, two commentaries have been added in the Enforcement chapter.

Court enforcement of a child support debt: A child support debt, a debt occasioned due to non payment of a registered maintenance liability, is a debt to the Commonwealth, as opposed to the payer, and is recoverable by action taken by the Child Support Registrar: s 113; or by the payee: s 113A. …

Property orders – Enforcement and the overseas factor: Unlike parenting orders, the Family Law Act, Rules or Regulation make no provision for the registration of property orders in overseas jurisdictions, or the registration and enforcement of overseas property orders in Australia. Furthermore, Australia is not party to any international conventions which provide for the reciprocal recognition of property orders overseas. …

 

Family Law – The Harman Undertaking – Information obtained on discovery or subpoena

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Commentary has been added to the Children and Property Settlement publications regarding the Harman undertaking:

Information obtained on discovery, subpoena or included within an affidavit cannot be used for a collateral or ulterior purpose unrelated to the proceedings in which that production occurs. This is called an implied or ‘Harman’ undertaking after Harman v Secretary of State for the Home Department [1983] 1 AC 280. It is a substantive legal obligation owed to the party who produces the documents and to the court: Hearne v Street [2008] HCA 36 (6 August 2008) at [107]-[108].

Family Law – Binding Child Support Agreements

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The Children’s commentary has been enhanced by adding further information regarding the binding nature of Binding Child Support Agreements and the discretion the Court may exercise to set an agreement aside. The Full Court of the Family Court decision in Masters & Cheyne [2016] FamCAFC 255 (2 December 2016) looks at what changes may be sufficient to enliven the Court’s discretion, and they are extremely limited. The Court’s view is that binding agreements are meant to be binding and possible changes in parental arrangements should be considered before executing the agreement.

By Lawyers Obiter mailing list

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Hello

Obiter has been redesigned to better deliver news about our publications in line with changes to legislation, practice and procedure.

The simpler structure will allow users to tailor their preferences and only receive information about the state they are interested in. Some subscribers may be interested in more than one state.

Please note that Federal has been auto selected for all users and will include notifications about updates to the following publications:

  • Bankruptcy and Liquidation
  • Companies, Trusts, Partnerships and Superannuation
  • Defamation & Protecting Reputation
  • Employment Law
  • Family Law
  • Personal Property Securities
  • Practice Management
  • Trade Marks
  • Immigration – coming soon!

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We hope you enjoy the updated Obiter – bringing you legal news since 2015.

If you would like to touch base or offer feedback please feel free to email us at askus@bylawyers.com.au.

Warm regards

The By Lawyers team

Family Law – Discontinuance & Summary Dismissal

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Commentary has been added to the Property Settlement, Children and Divorce publications on discontinuance and summary dismissal of proceedings. The necessary forms have also been linked to the relevant matter plans.

Proceedings maybe discontinued according to Family Law Rule 10.11 and Federal Circuit Court Rules 13.01 and 13.02. …

See Bigg and Suzi [1998] FamCA 14 (5 March 1998) where the Court said that not only did it have power to summarily dismiss an
application which could not succeed, but also the Court had inherent power to dismiss or permanently stay an application.

Companies – new precedents

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New precedents have been added to the publication Companies, Trusts, Partnerships and Superanuation

Put and call option agreement
Put and call option precedent for use by a private company allowing the vendor to grant the purchaser a call option over the shares and the purchaser to grant the vendor a put option over the same shares.

Company constitution
Adding to a comprehensive set of commercial incorporation tools for practitioners and their clients, the constitution is for company members who elect to use a constitution, instead of the replaceable rules to guide their internal governance.

The company constitution precedent includes the general rules governing the relationship between a company’s directors, secretary and shareholders and the activities of the company and can be easily customised to suit individual clients’ requirements.

Table of Replaceable Rules

For company members who elect to use the rules to guide their internal governance. The main advantage of the replaceable rules is that a company who uses them can ensure that they are always up to date with developments and changes in regulation.

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