Costs awarded to our client after the Father of her children failed to attend court on 2 separate occasions

Lawyer-in-charge: Luisa Gaetani

Luisa has appeared in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia on two separate occasions for a Mother who is the Respondent to Parenting proceedings initiated by the Father. Leading up to the first court date in February 2022, the Mother was served with partial documents pertaining to be the Father’s court documents however did not include all required documents. Luisa obtained all of the required documents in anticipation of the first court event however the Father failed to appear. Luisa sought time to file the Mother’s response documents and also costs against the Father for his failure to appear at the first court appearance.

The Registrar allowed Luisa to file a fee schedule setting out costs thrown away by the Father’s failed appearance and informed Luisa it would be dealt with on the next occasion, being a date in April 2022. Luisa again appeared for the Respondent Mother before the Registrar in April 2022 and the Father once again, failed to appear. Luisa was successful in getting costs awarded against the Father for his failure to appear on both occasions and was successful in having the matter set down for an undefended hearing.