Children – mother’s evidence of violence between father and his ex-wife lacked probative value and admission would waste time – Proctor

In England & Harrisson [2020] FamCA 1083 (18 December 2020) Altobelli J heard a parenting case where the mother sought to relocate from Sydney to New Zealand with the parties’ 2-year-old child (X) on an interim and final basis.

Each parent alleged that the other had perpetrated controlling violence during the relationship in the presence of X.

The mother filed an affidavit from the father’s ex-wife (Ms B) who lived in the United States. Ms B’s affidavit was 24 pages long and described a history of family violence perpetrated by the father “in quite meticulous detail” ([14]). The father sought that the affidavit be struck out and removed from the court record pursuant to s135 of the Evidence Act 1995…