Family Law Property Settlement
The process for calculating each person’s entitlement involves the following steps:
- Valuing all assets and liabilities, whether jointly or individually owned, including superannuation.
- Assessing contributions: initial contributions (who had what at the start?), direct financial contributions (income earning during the relationship) and indirect financial contributions (such as labour in renovations), non-financial contributions (such as homemaker and parent), as well as any extraordinary contributions or windfalls (such as an inheritance or a lottery win).
- Adjusting for future needs factors. This includes taking into account each person’s age and health, each person’s capacity to earn income, whether either person has the care of a child under 18, any financial resources, as well as the length of the relationship.
- Ensuring the overall settlement is just and equitable. This takes into account the actual division, including who gets what portion of the hard assets and who gets what portion of the superannuation, for example.
A property settlement can be formalised by Court Orders (including by consent, as with parenting matters) or by a Binding Financial Agreement (a “BFA”). Both are highly technical documents and have their own advantages and disadvantages. A family law specialist can talk you through that when the time comes so you know which options are right for you.
Can we assist you with issues relating to a family law property settlement?
