Stanford v. Stanford

Lower Court Judgment

21/10/2011 & 19/01/2012 Family Court of Western Australia (Bryant CJ, May J, Moncrieff J)

[2011] FamCAFC 208

[2012] FamCAFC 1

Catchwords

Family law — Property settlement — Property proceedings conducted by case guardians of H (aged 87) and W (aged 89) — Marriage still intact although W's declining health required that the parties be physically separated — Full Court made orders under s 79 of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) that required H upon his death or such earlier time as may be determined by his case guardian to pay a judgment sum to W — Order could only be satisfied by H selling matrimonial home where he was still living — Whether Full Court empowered to make a property settlement order under s 79 of the Act.

Constitutional law — Powers of Commonwealth Parliament — Section 51(xxi) — Whether orders made by the Full Court beyond the power conferred on Family Court of Australia in that it was not a matrimonial cause as specified in s 4(1)(ca) of the Act — Whether s 79 of the Act as applied in this case invalid.

Short Particulars