NWN [2015] NSWCATGD 5

NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: NWN [2015] NSWCATGD 5 Hearing dates: 5 February 2015 Date of orders: 05 February 2015 Decision date: 05 February 2015 Jurisdiction: Guardianship Division Before: Booby R, Senior Member (Legal) Williams P, Senior Member (Professional) Williams M, General Member (Community) Decision: Revocation of leave by solicitor to represent party Catchwords: INTERLOCUTORY – leave for legal representation – conflict of interest – solicitor acting for more than one party – solicitor as witness – leave for legal representation revoked Legislation Cited: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Mrs NWN (subject person) Ms ESN (applicant) The NSW Trustee and Guardian The Public Guardian Representation: Legal representation File Number(s): 56681 Publication restriction: Decisions of the Guardianship Division of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal have been anonymised to remove any information that may identify any person involved in the Tribunal's proceedings (s 65, Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW))

REASONS FOR DECISION

What the Tribunal decided 1. The Tribunal adjourned the hearing of the applications for approximately two months to a date to be fixed by the Registrar.

Background 1. At the time of the hearing Mrs NWN was 68 years old. She resides in Regional NSW with her son, Mr UTN. She has two other sons who are Mr KVN and Mr LBN and two daughters who are Ms ESN and Mrs KCC. 2. On 23 June 2014 the Tribunal received applications seeking guardianship and financial management orders for Mrs NWN. The application lacked supporting medical documentation. Documentation subsequently received from medical practitioners was to the effect that Mrs NWN did not have a disability. 3. Mr KVN sought to withdraw his applications. However his application to withdraw the substantive applications was refused by a Tribunal member due to concerns about possible financial exploitation of Mrs NWN. 4. Mr KVN subsequently withdrew as the applicant for the orders and Ms ESN became the substitute applicant. 5. On 11 December 2014 the Tribunal: * granted leave for Mr CFF, a solicitor, to represent Mrs NWN in all matters before the Tribunal; * adjourned the hearing of the applications for approximately eight weeks; and * issued directions to the parties regarding the filing of documents.