Annual report [1997-98] - Family Court of Australia

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Family Court of Australia – annual report 1997-98 Section 94Aenables a judge to state a case for determination by the Full Court. The Act and Rules (s94(1) and Order 32) provide that an appeal shall be instituted within one month after the decree appealed from or within such further time as the Court directs. Leave to appeal As a result of amendments made to the Family Law Act by the Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Act 1990, s94AAwas enacted and it provides that an appeal does not lie to the Full Court from a ‘prescribed decree’except by leave of the Full Court. A‘prescribed decree’is defined to mean an interlocutory decree other than a decree in relation to a ‘child welfare matter’. A‘child welfare matter’is also defined. That amendment came into operation in January 1991. In the year 1997-98 there were 35 such applications. The legislation also provides that the Court may by Rules of Court make provision enabling applications for leave to appeal to be dealt with ‘without an oral hearing’. Rules of Court have been made to that effect: see Order 32Aof the Family Law Rules, and many of these applications were dealt with by this procedure. Both the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 and the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 provide that appeals to the Full Court from the decisions of a judge of the Family Court under such legislation shall only be by leave of the Full Court. During the year there were 19 such applications for leave. Conciliation in appeals The Family Law Rules enable confidential conferences under Order 24 to be held in appeals. This is in furtherance of the policy of the Court to provide facilities to enable parties to negotiate and reach agreement on issues in dispute between them at any stage of the litigation. The parties to an appeal are informed that this service is available to them. If the parties agree a confidential conference will be arranged, but the Court does not compel the holding of such a conference in the absence of agreement. Conferences can be conducted by an appeal judge. That judge does not sit on any later hearing of that appeal. Very few conferences were sought during this year. Full Court sittings During 1997-98 the Full Court sat for 30 weeks (or part weeks) as follows: Sydney 13 Melbourne 5 Brisbane 5 Adelaide 2 Perth 2 Hobart 2 Darwin 1 Appeals may also be heard by way of video-link from time to time. The policy of the Court is to ensure that an appeal is heard no later than six months from the time the notice of appeal is filed. Increases in numbers of appeals this year and financial restraints have made it more difficult to adhere to that policy in recent years. 39
The Family Court of Australia – annual report 1997-98 Appeals in administration Appeals are administered by an appeal registrar in three areas, namely: the Northern area which covers Queensland, Northern Territory and Northern New South Wales: Eastern, which covers the balance of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory; and Southern, which covers Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. There is also a particular registrar to locally administer appeals in each major registry of the Court. Western Australia is separately administered by a registrar of that Court. The appeal registrars during this year were Ms Susan Gardiner (Northern), Ms Barbara Guthrie (Eastern) and Ms Vala Marino (Southern). General trends in appeals during this year The statistical information set out later in this section indicates there has been a substantial increase in the number of appeals over the past few years compared with previous years. The total for this year (302) is the second highest annual total since the Court commenced in 1976, being exceeded only in 1980 when there were 315 appeals. In addition, there were a total of 54 applications for leave to appeal, which is a greater figure than in any previous year, and some of those have led to the filing of appeals which are included in the above total and some of which would not have because leave to appeal was refused but which required an oral or written hearing. During the year the Court heard 180 appeals of which 77 (42%) were allowed and 103 (57%) were dismissed. In addition, 24 appeals were abandoned and 97 were withdrawn. The total number of appeals disposed of during the 12 months was 301. At the end of June 1998, 133 appeals were outstanding, being 21 reserved judgments and 112 awaiting hearing (some of which may ultimately be abandoned or withdrawn). During the 12-month period 45 applications for leave to appeal were dealt with and in 19 of those leave to appeal was granted and in 26 the application was dismissed. In that period five such applications were abandoned and 33 were withdrawn, and judgment is reserved in two further applications. Of the 45 applications for leave to appeal heard by the Court, approximately 45% were successful. Other significant matters to be drawn from the statistics include: ■ Property issues represented 31% ■ Residence, contact and specific issues orders represented 40% of appeals ■ The percentage of appellants who were male was approximately 56% and female 41% and the balance being corporations or third party appellants – in the previous year the male/female percentages were respectively 56.4% and 41.3% ■ The number of appellants in person was approximately 36% and in applications for leave to appeal it was 37% – in the previous year in the percentages were 26% and 40% respectively Appeals to the High Court of Australia Section 95 of the Family Law Act provides that an appeal does not lie to the High Court from a decree of a court exercising jurisdiction under the Family Law Actwhether original 40
Page 2: FAMILY COURT of AUSTRALIA Family Co
Page 5 and 6: The Family Court of Australia - ann
Page 43: The Family Court of Australia - ann
Page 75 and 76: TheFamilyCourt of Australia - annua
Page 95 and 96:
The Family Court of Australia - ann
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
The Family Court of Australia- annu
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
The Famil yCour to fAustra lia -ann
Page 125 and 126:
TheFamilyCourtofAustralia-annualrep
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143:
show all

Annual report [1997-98] - Family Court of Australia

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?