An urgent motion by the father for the return of a seven-year-old child who had been withheld by the mother for 18 days in breach of a final parenting order.
The mother had a lengthy history of disobeying parenting orders, including prior withholding of the child for extended periods, resulting in a contempt finding and financial penalties.
The mother's justifications for the withholding were financial in nature and unrelated to the child's best interests.
During the motion, the mother agreed to return the child.
The court granted an interim variation of the final order, imposing supervised parenting time on the mother for three months at a supervised parenting centre.
The court found the mother's conduct constituted bad faith breach of the court order and awarded full indemnity costs of $8,900 against the mother.
