Stanford v Stanford [2012] HCA 52
Carr & Co have recently been involved in a successful appeal to the High Court of Australia reported as Stanford v Stanford [2012] HCA 52. The decision of the Court was unanimous. The appeal involved property settlement proceedings of parties aged 87 and 89 where the parties’ marriage had not broken down, but they were separated in a physical sense, through old age and the wife’s ill health.
Proceedings in the Family Court of Western Australia were commenced in August 2009 by one of wife’s daughters (who were children of her previous marriage) on behalf of her mother.
The wife’s daughters were both appointed their mother’s guardians by the State Administrative Tribunal (WA).
The wife’s daughter sought that the Court equally divide the parties’ net assets, as she alleged her mother’s marriage had ended.