Imagine you are a parent living in the United Kingdom. You and your ex-spouse have agreed to parenting orders that allow your ex to move to Australia with your children…

From the date the Family Law Act began in 1976, fault as a ground for divorce disappeared.

In this report we look at the situation when a parent to a party to the marriage or de facto relationship provides a gift to their child with no expectation of reimbursement or repayment.

The tax system is full of traps.

International surrogacy has been given extensive media coverage in the past week, largely in response to the case involving the Thai-born baby, known as "Gammy". Gammy is reportedly the biological child of a Perth couple, born to a 21 year old Thai mother through a commerical surrogacy arrangement brokered by a Thai surrogacy agency.

In our last Newsdesk item we reported on the ground-breaking US Court of Appeals decision in Ermini v Vittori, and in particular the application of Article 13 of the Hague Convention of the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

In the past week the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, citing an Australian High Court case, delivered judgment in the case Ermini v Vittori

The I CARE Foundation is an organisation dedicated to stopping international child abduction and trafficking. It also issues newsletters to people who might be concerned in this, including our firm.

Most cases that are ultimately heard and decided by the Family Law Courts tend to involve either parenting or property matters, though other more complex issues do periodically arise.

Fault as a concept in relationship breakdown has had a long life, though not necessarily a productive one. And even though Australia has had no fault divorce since 1976, when the Family Law Act came into force, some people still cling to notions of blame…

In an earlier newsdesk item (13 January 2014) we reported on the Full Court decision of Wallace v Stelzer, colloquially known as the "pole dancer case"

It is extremely common for parents to help their children out financially, whether to assist them to buy their first house, or to provide an advance on their inheritance.

It is not often we report on overseas cases except where they directly concern Australian law but this is an interesting exception. 

A caveat is a warning registered on the title to a property, warning anybody intending to deal with that property that the person who placed the caveat on the land claims an interest in it.

In one of the few cases that have followed Re Jamie, the court in Re Spencer [2014] FamCA 310 considers whether a 17 year old child has the requisite degree of competence to give informed consent to stage-two treatment for gender identity dysphoria.

We recently reported the signature by Japan and Iraq to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. Having to activate the Convention means having to do the best that you can to fix things up after the catastrophe of a child abduction.

Following the release of a report on inter-country adoption by the Government in April 2014, the Australian State and Territory governments have reached agreement about a uniform process for inter-country adoption.

On 9 April 2014, Iraq acceded to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which now counts 92 Contracting States as members to the multi-national treaty.