Property Settlement – What are you entitled to?

17 January 2023

HOW DOES A COURT GAUGE PEOPLE’S ENTITLEMENTS?

In determining what a person is entitled to in a family law property settlement, the Court takes into account the following:

• what assets, debts and superannuation entitlements each party brought into the relationship;

• what financial input each party had during, and after, the relationship (e.g. payment of bills and groceries, use of savings to purchase property, lump sum receipts et cetera);

• what non-financial input each party had during, and after the relationship (e.g. renovations);

• what input as homemaker and parent each party had during, and after the relationship (e.g. carrying out home duties and caring for the parties’ children); and

• what each party’s future needs are having regard to their incomes/income earning capacities, ages, state of health, obligation to care for children of the relationship under 18 et cetera.

HOW ARE THE FACTORS APPLIED?

Provided the Court is first satisfied that property settlement Orders are required, the Court considers the abovementioned factors in a four-step process. The steps are:

1. identify the current property pool (assets, debts and superannuation entitlements now) and assign a ‘market value’ to each item;

2. consider the parties’ contributions (detailed in the first four dot points above) and assign a percentage of the property pool to each party based on those contributions;

3. consider the parties’ future needs and possibly adjust the percentage assigned at step 2 to take those future needs into account; and

4. ensure that the proposed division is just and equitable (for example, stand back from the Orders and consider whether they are just, overall, and make Orders providing for the division of the property pool).