This article was co-authored by Nancy Wang Pricipal Solicitor and Jialin Liu Solicitor at W & G Lawyers.
Consider a situation we now see in our office with some regularity. A professional woman in her forties sells an apartment she bought years before she met her partner, adds her savings, and pays the entire price of a new family home. The title — for reasons that seemed sensible at the time, or for no articulated reason at all — goes into joint names, or into her partner’s name alone. The relationship later ends, and she asks the question every family lawyer dreads answering in a single sentence: whose house is it?
The honest answer is that it depends on which body of law is asked, and how long the relationship lasted. The equitable doctrines — resulting trusts, constructive trusts and the presumption of advancement — give one answer. The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), substantially rewritten with effect from 10 June 2025, gives another. This article works through both, and explains why the passage of time quietly transfers power from the first to the second.
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