FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – PROPERTY – Where the appellant wife alleged errors in the balance sheet adopted by the Federal Magistrate and errors in the exercise of discretion – Where the alleged errors in the balance sheet were agreed to by the parties at the time of trial and therefore attributable to them – Where the respondent husband conceded some errors in the balance sheet – Where the errors do not infect the reasons for judgment or the substantive effect of the orders – Where no appealable error was established in the other grounds concerning the Federal Magistrate’s exercise of discretion – Appeal allowed in part to vary the Federal Magistrate’s orders to address errors in the balance sheet and provision for the sale of property as an alternative to cash payment – Appeal otherwise dismissed.
FAMILY LAW – APPEAL – COSTS – Where the errors leading to the appeal being allowed were conceded by the respondent early in the appeal proceedings – Where the appellant refused the respondent’s offer for settlement which was in the same terms as the orders made in the appeal varying the amount payable by the wife – Where the wife was otherwise wholly unsuccessful – Appellant wife to pay the respondent husband’s costs in the appeal from the time of the offer of settlement.
NOTE: The period for seeking special leave to appeal to the High Court has not expired.