Compensation of court costs
In Australia, there are two ways in which a party can be reimbursed for the costs of proceedings.
Where a party is unsuccessful, the other party may be awarded costs of proceedings, under the Federal Proceedings (Costs) Act 1981.
Section 111B
In proceedings under regulations made for the purposes of section 111B, the court may also make an award in respect of costs that is
(a) against a party who has improperly removed or retained a child or wrongfully prevented the exercise of rights of access has (within the meaning of the
Convention) has impeded; and
(b) in respect of necessary expenses incurred by the person who made the application, under that Convention, concerning the child.
Section 8
When the Appeal Court refers a case back to the court so that the court may rehear the case, it may grant the parties a costs certificate persuant to section 8 of the Federal Proceedings (Costs) Act 1981 (Cht) being a certificate that, in the opinion of the court, it would be approprate for the Attorney-General to authorise a payment under that Act to each of the parties in respect to the costs incurred by them in relation to the rehearing ordered.
Comar & Comar
This happened in the Comar & Comar case, of April 24, 2020. In this case, the court had denied the children’s return to Colombia because there was a serious risk that, if returned, the children would be exposed to a physical or mental danger, or in any other way be placed in an intolerable condition.
The Appeal Court held that the judge and the Family Consultant had not taken into account the father’s (unchallenged) statement about how he would care for the children if the children were returned, and that therefore the primary judge made errors in reaching the finding of grave risk. The Appeal Court grants to each of the parties a costs certificate pursuant to section 8 of the Federal Proceedings (Costs) Act 1981.
Read more about International Child Abduction
Read more about child relocation and child abduction in Australia.
All blogs from The Author:
- The use of Foreign Experts in 1980 Hague Convention Cases
- Cross-Border Child Relocation Dispute: Strategic Legal Intervention Between Egypt and Vietnam
- Child Placement and Co-Parenting in Italy
- Getting a child from the jungle
- Dealing with international child abduction
- No return order due to ratified parental agreement
- Abducted in Italy
- Father’s Rights in International Law
- Care arrangement from Dubai
- Return order to Israel
- Permission not required
- Supporting families and colleagues through the CALA
- International Law in Domestic Courts: A Note on Child Litigation in the UK
- The wishes of a child in a Hague Convention procedure in Hungary
- The voice of the child in Hungarian abduction procedure
- Towards a Comprehensive Approach to International Child Abduction Situations
- Act of Fraudulent Commission of Reality
- Article 13b defence
- My child has been abducted to Brazil
- Return order not required
- Brazil’s new era in child abduction cases
- ASIME congress november 2023
- International Child Abduction and The Hague Convention
- International child abduction case leads to indirect recognition of LBGTQ+ families in Greece (?)
- What is the law with parental child abduction in the UK?