Family Law

It is important to seek independent legal advice to make informed decisions about the future of yourself or your children. You are entitled to seek confidential advice from a lawyer. A lawyer cannot disclose confidential information or make any agreements with your partner or their lawyer unless you have clearly agreed to it first.

Assets that are acquired during a marriage are considered as joint marital assets. Regardless of whose name that asset is held in, the law gives the court the power to adjust ownership of property to ensure that the party who is not the registered owner of that asset gets a just and equitable share of that asset.

In addition, it is not just assets that are acquired during the marriage which form part of the asset pool. Depending on the length of the relationship, assets owned before the marriage can also be treated as joint marital assets and be subject to a property adjustment in the same way. This includes the superannuation interests held in each of the party’s names.

People are often surprised to learn that assets that are acquired by one party after the date of separation can also form part of the asset pool that is to be split between the parties. Therefore, it is important for you to finalise a property settlement as quickly as possible after final separation to prevent post separation assets forming part of the pool of assets to be divided between the parties.

In the case where no agreement can be reached, one party will make an application to the court and the court will decide what the parenting orders should be (considering the best interests of the child).

It is important to remember that the court requires separating families who have a dispute about children to make a genuine effort to try and reach agreement through family dispute resolution before an application is filed with the court, unless an exemption applies (such as family violence, child abuse or there is an urgent need to file the application).

There are practical benefits of trying to reach an agreement without going to court such as avoiding the stress associated with court proceedings, resolving the dispute quickly and avoiding the costs of a contested court application.