HER court application might have been doomed to fail, but nobody could fault the enterprising spirit of one internet bride. Except possibly her estranged husband.

The Kazakhstani woman applied for a property settlement in the Federal Magistrates Court that would award her 65 per cent of their joint marital assets. He said she should get nothing.

They met online in 2005, and their romance culminated in her coming to Australia with her nine-year-old child and getting married in 2006.

The wife's oldest child, a former medical student, followed three years later, but he witnessed little marital bliss under the couple's roof.

Advertisement Shortly after he arrived, the three were successful in obtaining permanent residency, sponsored by the husband, and a few weeks later the relationship ended.

The husband and wife agreed that he contributed $40,000 towards the cost of her visa application and transport to Australia, and he financially supported her children in Australia, though they disagreed over the extent of her contributions as homemaker. She estimated the pool of assets at $91,833.

Federal Magistrate Michael Baumann, whose judgment on the case was published on Wednesday, said he could not discount the possibility that when the couple first met, and after she moved to Australia, ''the husband's financial position might have been portrayed by him as stronger than he now claims it is''.

By the time he heard the case, the wife's pro bono lawyer had reduced her claim on the estate to 35 per cent, which was calculated about $30,000.

But although Mr Baumann praised the efforts of the wife's lawyer - ''who I must say could have said nothing more than she has in this application in support of the wife'' - he dismissed the wife's application, saying it had no reasonable prospect of success.

Even if the husband's business was worth something, the wife's claim was well under 35 per cent, and she had already benefited from her relationship with the husband, he said.

But he stressed that his order was not made on the basis that the wife and her sons were lucky to be living in Australia at all.

''I am sure [they] will make their contributions as residents in their chosen home,'' he said.

either that or just don't get married at all

F.cked over by a mail order bride. How unusual.