Alvarez v Cadarso [2009] NSWSC 159

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Alvarez v Cadarso [2009] NSWSC 159

HEARING DATE(S) : 16/03/2009

JUDGMENT DATE : 25 March 2009

JURISDICTION : Equity Division

JUDGMENT OF : Macready AsJ at 1

DECISION : Paragraph 47

CATCHWORDS : Family Law. Application for property adjustment under s 20 of Property (Relationships) Act 1984. Order for provision. No matter of principle.

PARTIES : Maria Cruz Alvarez v Felipe Cadarso (By his tutor the Protective Commissioner)

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 1603/2007

COUNSEL : Mr A Hill for plaintiff Mr M Stevens for defendant

SOLICITORS : Villari & Co Lawyers for plaintiff Makinson & d'Apice Lawyers for defendant

- 1 - IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES EQUITY DIVISION

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE MACREADY

Wednesday 25 March 2009

No. 1603 of 2007 MARIA ALVAREZ v FELIPE CADARSO (By his Tutor, the Protective Commissioner)

JUDGMENT 1 HIS HONOUR: This is an application in which the plaintiff seeks orders for adjustment of the parties' property interests under s 20 of the Property (Relationships) Act 1984. 2 The plaintiff and the defendant met in December 1980 and they commenced living together in 1982 in a property owned by the defendant and another person at Bondi. The relationship continued until the parties separated in December 2005. CHRONOLOGY 3 The plaintiff was born in January 1936 in Madrid, Spain. She is presently aged 73 years of age. The defendant was born in May 1933 and is presently 75 years of age. He suffers from Parkinson's disease and dementia and he presently resides in Spain. The Protective Commissioner manages the defendant's affairs pursuant to a Financial Management Order made by the Guardianship Tribunal on 17 July 2006. The Protective Commissioner is the defendant's tutor in the proceedings. 4 The defendant has not provided evidence and is apparently unable to provide evidence by way of affidavit in the proceedings. History of the relationship[ 5 In 1958 the plaintiff married Honorio Alvarez and they had two sons born in 1959 and in 1966. 6 In 1967 the plaintiff with her husband and her two sons, Robert and Carlos, migrated to Australia settling in Victoria after which they moved to Sydney where they rented a house in Newtown. 7 In 1972 the plaintiff and her husband purchased a property at Callagher Street, Mount Druitt as joint tenants and the property is still held in their joint names. In 1978 the plaintiff received $20,000 in compensation for a work related injury and she used that money to discharge the mortgage on the Mount Druitt property. In December 1978 the plaintiff's husband left the plaintiff and the last occasion that the plaintiff that saw her husband was in 1980 or 1981 and she believes he lives in Brazil.