Application to add party to proceedings — relationship property dispute — family trust — disposition to trust — Property (Relationships) Act 1976, s 44C — Family Court Rules 2002, r 133. The applicant sought to add a party to the relationship property proceedings between herself and the respondent, pursuant to r 133 of the Family Court Rules (FCR). The applicant intended to claim that a disposition of property to the family trust, of which the respondent and his sister were trustees, was relationship property and she therefore sought to add the trustees as second respondents. The respondent opposed the application. The trust had been set up by the respondent's and his sister's parents and had purchased a residential property which the respondent had subsequently purchased from the trust prior to the parties' relationship. The parties had resided at the property during the course of their relationship, during which time the property had been sold back to the trust. The applicant claimed that this sale back to the trust was a sale of relationship property. Under r 133 of the FCR a court, if it considered it just, could add a party to the proceedings where the presence of that party was necessary for the court to effectually and completely adjudicate all questions involved in the proceedings. The test was whether the trustees of the trust would be directly affected by any order in the proceeding. If the applicant were to be successful in her claim under s 44C of the Property (Relationships) Act that the sale of the property back to the trust was a sale of relationship property to which she was entitled, then a remedy may include a discretionary award of income from the trust. As such, the Judge considered that the trust may be directly affected by the proceedings, and considered it appropriate in the circumstances to add the trustees as second respondents. The Judge made an order accordingly. Judgment Date: 4 September 2020. * * * Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements. * * *