Property Settlements
There are all sort of myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings about property settlement on the breakdown of marriage or a de facto relationship. Common examples are people thinking that being married means there’ll be an automatic 50/50 split on separation, or thinking that because a certain property might be held in a family trust it is necessarily excluded from the pool of property to be divided at settlement, or that superannuation doesn’t come into the picture.
Fair Family Law have experience in matters involving specific issues and interim issues such as:
- Superannuation splits
- Disclosure and obtaining evidence
- Partial property settlements
- Injunctions to preserve property
- Transactions to defeat claims
- Third party issues
- Extending time to issue property proceedings
Fair Family Law will help you to achieve a just and equitable property settlement. We will consider your circumstances and provide you with thorough and accurate advice as to your entitlements.
It is important to finalise financial and property matters following separation to ensure that issues do not arise in the future. Should parties fail to formalise their division of property, there is a real risk that one party can come back in the future and seek a further adjustment in their favour. We will negotiate for you and represent you in Alternate Dispute Resolution processes, such as mediation, or through the Court process if that becomes necessary. Either way, we will guide you and assist you to achieve certainty and finality by either Consent Orders (where your agreement is made as an order of the Court), by way of a Binding Financial Agreement (a “post-nup”) or litigation (going to Court for a judicial determination) where required.
It’s important to keep time frames in mind and not to delay in seeking advice. If you were married, you need to bring an application within 12 months from the date of divorce (you do not need to wait for your divorce to be finalised before bringing a property application). If you were in a de facto relationship you need to bring an application within two years of separation. If you are outside of these time limits, you will require leave of the Court to make an application for a property adjustment. In order to be successful, a Court will have to be satisfied that special circumstances apply.
In all matters we take an empathetic approach to our clients and their circumstances but keep commercial realities in mind and provide practical and realistic advice accordingly.
Contact us regarding our 'Property Settlements' Legal Services
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Fair Family Law Services