Category Property Settlement

This article was written by Jialin Liu Solicitor at W & G Lawyers.

After separation, many people try to rebuild and reorganise their lives. Some move into rental accommodation. Some return to work. Others want to create a more stable home for themselves and their children, and may consider buying a new property.

A common question then arises:

If we have already separated, can a house I buy afterwards still be divided in the divorce?

The answer is usually not a simple “yes” or “no”.

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Separation and divorce are rarely just legal events. They may involve moving out of the family home, rearranging children’s routines, dealing with changes in income, and facing uncertainty about legal costs, living expenses and the future.

For many people, the difficulty is not that they do not need legal help. The difficulty is that they are concerned about how to pay for it. A person may need advice about their rights, assistance with disclosure, preparation for negotiations, mediation or court proceedings, but may delay seeking help because of short-term cash flow pressure.

In family law matters, costs may include legal fees, mediation fees, court filing fees, expert report fees, valuation fees and other expenses connected with separation. The likely cost of a matter will depend on many factors, including the issues in dispute, the complexity of the asset pool, the conduct of the other party, the extent of disclosure required, whether experts are needed, and whether the matter can be resolved by negotiation or mediation.

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This article was written by Nancy Wang Principal Solicitor at W & G Lawyers. 

It is one of the most common scenarios in Australian family wealth: parents lend money to an adult child to help buy a home, build a business, or get a foothold in the property market. Sometimes the loan is documented carefully. Sometimes a caveat is even lodged on the title. The family is satisfied that the money is “protected.”

Then the child’s marriage breaks down. The parents expect that their loan will be deducted from the property pool before the assets are divided, leaving more for their child (and, in their minds, less for the departing spouse). They are often shocked to discover that the Family Court treats the loan as if it does not exist.

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