A: I’m sorry, this must be distressing for you. The first thing is to tell your lawyer how important confidentiality is to you and your family. A lawyer has an obligation to treat all your information on a confidential basis anyway. In this case, you need to make it absolutely clear how important confidentiality is and that if you were to sign any agreement, there should be a confidentiality clause included in that agreement.
It is possible that local or national news media will approach you or your lawyer about your case. I would give your lawyer advice in writing to reinforce this obligation: They are not to discuss the matter with any media or other people within your community.
The relevant law regarding publication is contained in Section 11B of the Family Court Act 1980. Family Court reporting is more frequent now than ever before.
Any person may publish a report of proceedings in the Family Court. However, without the court’s permission, a person may not publish information or proceedings of the Family Court. This includes identifying details of a person who is a party or in some cases a vulnerable person and will submit to the proceedings.
The media report few family law cases. My experience has been they are especially interested if the parties are well-known or if the topic is unusual, such as international child abduction.
This means the name of a child under 18, for example, cannot be published, and also the names of the particular adults involved cannot be published.
However, a professional or technical report can be published, such as those of legal or medical professionals, psychologists, or mediators, but only if it excludes the names of children under 18, vulnerable persons or other exceptions.
For an individual who violates this section, penalties include a maximum term of imprisonment of three months or a fine of up to $2000. Other sections of legislation may also discuss the regulation of all publications of Family Court proceedings.
Already open
There will be situations where the parties have already identified themselves on social media. For example, if children are not involved, it may be more difficult to seek name suppression in such cases. A media interview with one party who is a parent and discusses the proceedings would also have put matters out in the open. There used to be a closed or private court in the Family Court when it was established in 1980. The law has since moved on considerably.
High Court
The High Court does not have the same restrictions – for example, in relation to relationship property. The possibility of names being published is often an incentive for parties to come to an agreement and settlement short of High Court proceedings. Settlements often involve private mediation, and you should consider that option. I have written before about private mediations in this column.
Name suppression in relationship property cases
Our highest court is the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has said name suppression should be the last resort, and this practice has occurred with relationship property decisions. The relevant lawyers, parties and the court should decide whether the names of the parties will be used in the decisions.
