An unfortunate reality of the separation process is that you incur potentially significant legal fees along the way. That is especially the case if you and your ex are unable to find a negotiated outcome, and as a result your separation requires you to go all the way through litigation. Many people might have the view that if you “win” in litigation, your costs will be covered by the other party. However, costs in family law proceedings don’t necessarily work that way. In this article we’ll give you a rundown on how a Court is going to approach the question of costs in a variety of circumstanc ..read more

Separating when you and your ex have children inevitably involves challenging decisions to be made about how those children should be cared for going forward. Here we have another person involved so the factors to take into account about future parenting matters are quite different from those involved in property. Specifically, when the Court is asked to make or change parenting orders, it must consider the “best interests of the child”. It must regard those best interests are “paramount” in making such an order. In this article we’ll run through the times the best interests of the child are r ..read more

In our guide on binding financial agreements, we have set out the various elements that need to be in place for a financial agreement to be valid and enforceable. One question that comes up from time to time is about what happens if one person was “forced” to sign a prenup. Is the binding financial agreement still enforceable? Do you have any options to get out of it? Well, as you might expect – it depends… Setting Aside a Binding Financial Agreement for Duress If a Court is satisfied that one party to a binding financial agreement did so under “duress”, the Court will likely be prepared to se ..read more

The headline of this article probably doesn’t come as a surprise to everyone. However, with social media being a dominant and largely public form of sharing our thoughts and experiences, the importance of managing your social media use during (and arguably before and after) separation can’t be understated. In this article we’ll set out some fundamental dos and don’ts of social media use in separation, as well as a few potential consequences if things go awry. The Golden Rule of Social Media in Separation If you remember only one thing about this article, make this it. Expect that anything you ..read more

Binding financial agreements (BFAs) are an important element for formalising property settlements under the Family Law Act. In this guide we’ll work through the fundamental elements of a binding financial agreement so that you understand what they cover, how they work, and what things can go wrong if you don’t have the right procedures in place. What is a Binding Financial Agreement? A binding financial agreement is a contract between two people in (or about to be in) an intimate relationship or after separation in which they agree on the treatment of their assets and income after separation ..read more

Does placing assets inside some kind of family trust mean that they can be ignored when seeking a property settlement during separation? Many people believe that having significant assets held in a family trust will mean that those assets are not part of the property pool, and therefore will survive separation without being considered by the Court. But is that really the case? What is a Family Trust? A family trust is a common vehicle used to protect assets, gain flexibility with income and, sometimes, to get certain taxation advantages. Basically: The assets or income are held by the legal o ..read more

A primary part of the separation process in Australia is the identification and distribution of the assets of the relationship. With the increasing likelihood that cryptocurrency will form part of those assets, separating parties can face some unique challenges when it comes to dealing with crypto as part of a divorce. While Bitcoin is probably the most famous and popular, there are now millions of forms of crypto around the world, so there is an increasing likelihood of crypto coming up during divorce. In this guide, we’ll set out the issues you need to be aware of if you’re going through sep ..read more

In family law matters, both parents will typically have their own family lawyers to represent their interests. However, when it comes to parenting matters in particular, the interests of the child (or children) of the relationship are of critical importance to any Court decision. This leaves a problem – while both parents and their lawyers may well believe their view of the correct outcome is in the child’s best interests, they may also be putting forward quite different views about what those best interests are. Of course, children cannot typically afford their own lawyers. So how are their i ..read more

Many Court orders are “one and done” style orders. That is, the parties comply with the orders, do the things required (pay the money, transfer the property) by those orders and then they’re done. From that point onwards, those Court orders have very little impact on the lives of the people involved. Parenting orders are slightly different though. Parenting Orders – A Moving Feast? As part of the separation process, spouses with children will ordinarily secure some kind of agreement or Court order that sets out the living arrangements of the children of the relationship until they are 18. Whil ..read more

Part of the marriage separation process in Australia is, or course, an analysis of what the fair and equitable split of property between the parties should be. Allowing for reasonable concessions, both parties usually want to maximise how much of the available asset pool they might receive. But, of course, assets are only one side of the ledger. So what happens in separation with debts that one or both parties might have? Do they get split between the parties? Does each party bear their own debt? What about joint debts? In this article we’ll discuss the treatment of debts in separation and div ..read more