We’ve heard it said many times that if both parties are unhappy with property settlement Orders then the outcome is likely on the mark.  However, that doesn’t stop parties filing an appeal.  In those circumstances it is important that the appellant comes to court with ‘clean hands’.

The matter of Catlin & Catlin  [2025] FedCFamC1A 110 was an Appeal filed by the husband in respect of the enforcement of property settlement Consent Orders, made on 22 July 2016.  As at the date of filing her Enforcement Application the husband had not complied with any of the 2016 Orders.  That Enforcement Application was heard and Orders made by Berman J on 7 February 2025.  The husband filed his Appeal on 28 February 2025 and the wife thereafter filed an Application in an Appeal on 9 April 2025 seeking that the husband’s appeal be dismissed on the basis that he was in Contempt of Court.  The husband had not filed a financial statement in the enforcement proceedings despite the Court Rules and an Order from a Judicial Registrar requiring him to do so.  In effect, he had not provided any financial disclosure and did not challenge the primary judge’s findings in this regard.  The Full court found that the appellant was in breach of Orders made in July 2016, 15 December 2023 and 14 February 2024, as well as his obligations pursuant to the Court Rules, and that those breaches were deliberate, ‘continuing and remaining’.

The Full Court outlined the task in front of it, at P57, as “..to balance the appellant’s right to procedural justice, including the right to be heard, with the relevant public policy considerations, including that the appellant’s disobedience is such that, so long as it continues, it impedes or is likely to impede the course of justice by making it more difficult for the Court to enforce the orders which it has made’.

In conclusion the Full court determined the appeal must be dismissed and, further, ordered the husband to pay the wife’s costs in the sum of $34,000.