Not possible? Think again.

The Collins Dictionary defines a ‘false economy’ as ‘an attempt to save money which actually leads to greater expense’.

Family Law proceedings can be a costly exercise. Many people think that they can cut costs, and save themselves some money, by representing themselves or delaying hiring a lawyer. We see it all the time. But this is a mistake. Research has shown that a person’s legal costs are likely to be higher when they delay or avoid hiring a lawyer. While it may seem counter intuitive, seeking out legal advice early on in your case is likely to save you money and increase your chances of getting a favourable outcome.

Research commissioned by the Law Society of England and Wales has found a clear link between early advice and the early resolution of cases. It has found that a person who receives legal advice in first three months of their case is more likely to resolve their case within the same period. There are several reasons that may explain why this link exists.

First, a person who receives legal advice has a stronger understanding of their rights and is therefore able to better advocate for themselves.

Second, a person who has a legal representative will be a more effective negotiator. This is because family lawyers are highly skilled in handling these kinds of cases and can negotiate more effectively than their clients can. Even where clients are skilled negotiators in their own right their ability to negotiate effectively is often clouded by their emotional investment in their matter.

Third, early legal advice can stop minor problems escalating into large problems, which require costly and complicated solutions.

What this research shows is that it is possible to keep legal costs down without forsaking high quality legal advice and representation. The key to reducing your legal costs is to seek legal advice early in your case.

While getting legal advice early is one strategy you can use to reduce your legal costs, there are other steps you can take to save money. Below is a list of strategies you can use to limit unnecessary legal fees:

1. Make a list of questions you want answered before you attend your appointments. Avoid calling your lawyer later with questions that you forgot to ask during your appointment by writing them down beforehand. Many people find it helpful to keep a notebook handy, so they can write down any questions or thoughts they have about their case whenever they pop into their head.
2. Let your lawyer do their job. While you may think you are saving money by preparing legal paperwork yourself, the costs will soon blow out when you make a mistake that your lawyer must fix.
3. Be prepared to negotiate. If it is at all possible, you should try to reach an agreement with your ex-partner. This does not mean you have to give up your case. Rather, it means knowing when to compromise and when not to compromise (a lawyer can help you with this). In most cases, both parties will have to make concessions, so you are not alone in this. Remember: Legal fees increase the longer a case drags on, so resolving it early will cut down those fees.
4. Make full disclosure of all your financial interests. Failing to disclose an interest may result in an adverse decision being made against you. Hiding your interests is never a good idea; There is always a good chance you will get caught out.
5. Respond to your lawyers’ requests as soon as possible. The less time your lawyer spends chasing you for information, the less you will pay in legal fees.

If you haven’t sought legal advice on your family law matter yet and would like to speak with an experienced family law expert please contact our office, either online or toll free 1300 449 500, and we’ll arrange a time for you to speak with one of our experts.

The post The False Economy In Family Law appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

There is no rule or presumption that you have to divide your property equally following separation.

In fact the final division of your property depends on many different factors including, but not limited to:

• The length of your relationship;
• Your financial contributions;
• Your non-financial contributions, and
• Your current and future needs.

One of the biggest challenges is accurately quantifying both the financial and non-financial contributions each party makes to the relationship. What items should be included? What items should be excluded? For those items included how do we quantify value? And what guidance does the law provide?

Typically financial contributions are easier to identify and quantify. What financial assets did you each bring to the relationship? Financial contributions include things like savings, motor vehicles, investments, property including loans or mortgages. furniture, superannuation and cash. What financial assets did you contribute throughout the relationship? This might include things like wages or business earnings, an inheritance, gifts from parents or others, or even an unexpected windfall such as winning the lottery.

Determining the value of a non-financial contributions can be a little more challenging. Did one partner stay at home whilst raising a family to enable the other partner to work or run their business? Did one partner provide care to the other partner, and forfeit paid work in doing so? Did one partner provide services for free to the other partner (i.e. doing the books for their partners business). All of these things potentially have a value in determining each partners contribution to the relationship.

In addition to assessing the financial and non-financial contributions of each partner in the relationship there is at least one other major factor which comes into play. What are your current and future needs? Things which would need to be considered include factors like your age, health, whether you are providing care for children under the age of 18 years, the children’s health, your employability, years to retirement, whether you’re on a pension or a benefit and the list goes on.

Even then we’re really only scratching the surface of what things might become a factor in arriving at the final division of property for each party. So the odds of a simple 50/50 property division are less likely than you might think.

Even though this might seem confusing and somewhat overwhelming just know that the team of family law experts at King Cain can remove the confusion and overwhelm and have you focused on mapping out your future. To find out how you can receive the property division you’re entitled to contact the team on 1300 449 500 to make an appointment to speak with an expert, or click here to fill out a form and we’ll contact you.

The post Will Our Property Be Split 50/50 After We Separate? appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

Many people who enter into a de facto relationship by moving in together for the first time may not think there are legal consequences from their decision. Even couples who do not live together but have been together for a significant period of time may still be considered to be in a de facto relationship.

While you may not see this as a significant commitment, there can be legal consequences from this decision and it is important that you consider the implications and discuss them with your partner.

If the unfortunate event occurs and your relationship breaks down, you do not want to be left in a position where your assets and financial contributions to the relationship are not fairly considered by a Court. Ultimately, you do not want to lose any money or assets to which you are entitled.

Definition of de facto  

Two people are considered to be in a de facto relationship if “they are a couple living together on a genuine domestic basis.

If you are unmarried and living together as a couple, the FLA will recognise your relationship in the same manner as if you were married.

However, even if you are not living together the Court will look to several different factors, such as the length of your relationship, the degree of financial dependence or interdependence, the reputation of the public aspects of the relationship.

Many relationships have many or all of the above elements, you may be in a de facto relationship and not even realise it.

Property Settlement for de facto couples

The recent reforms to the Family Law Act (FLA) enable access to property settlement for most de facto couples in a similar manner to a property settlement for married couples.

This means that one member of the relationship can make a claim to the court within two years of the relationship breaking down.

Binding Financial Agreement (BFA) – a solution to the problem?

A BFA is a contractual agreement between yourself and your partner about how your financial affairs will be arranged in the event that you suffer a break down of your relationship. BFAs also account for maintenance responsibilities, account for household contributions and rights to property.

There are substantial benefits to entering into a BFA. It allows you to make decisions about property ahead of time, to avoid a potentially long and costly legal dispute later on.

BFAs can be entered into before, during or after a de facto relationship has commenced.

What happens if your relationship breaks down without a BFA?

If you do not enter into a BFA prior to the relationship break down you will need to enter into negotiations about the best way to distribute the property from the relationship.

If this cannot be achieved amicably, you may need to involve the Family Law Courts to obtain consent or property orders which is a costly process and does not provide you with any certainty as to the outcome.

A BFA precludes the Court from any involvement in the property or financial aspects of the relationship 

What next?

We all want our relationships to work but you never know what events are around the corner. It is best to be as prepared as possible in mitigating all financial risk and protecting all assets by entering into a BFA.

A BFA can be a very complex legal document due to the strict statutory requirements that must be met to render it a legally binding instrument. This means that it is essential to obtain legal advice about the best way to draft the agreement.

If you think you are currently in a de facto relationship without a Binding Financial Agreement, please call Matthew Oakley on (02) 6333 4400 for further information on how best to protect your family, your assets and most importantly, yourself.

The post The Importance of Financial Protection in a De-facto Relationship – Binding Financial Agreements appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

A typical farming business is owned and operated by a couple in partnership, often with and between their various children and their spouses. The farm has been in the family for generations and work is done by various family members according to their capacity and it is usually hoped that the farm will be passed from one generation to the next.

The  farm is much more than real estate it is a shared home, heritage and livelihood.

Arrangements between family members are often informal, promises are made and revised and there are “unspoken understandings”.

Family members regularly spend many years working on and improving the farm without being paid a formal wage on the expectation that one day they will inherit the family business.

Oftentimes numerous family members in one way or another contribute to  other investments designed to benefit the family as a whole.

Homes can be built on the farm where the land itself is not owned by the son or daughter (and their spouse) who is building a home. They rely on an expectation, unspoken promises or informal understandings that one day they will own the land as well.

This raises very complex questions that need to be answered in order to assess a departing spouse’s entitlement.

The difficult issue is how to balance the divergent interests of usually several families over two or three generations and the proper entitlement of the departing spouse.

All property proceedings whether or not the parties are formally married or in a de facto relationship involve a process that identifies the parties assets and liabilities , their respective financial and non-financial contributions and whether or not a further adjustment is necessary to one or the other because they have greater future needs. The final step of this process requires a court to make orders that are “just and equitable”, relevant in working out whether or not the family farm needs to be sold to enable the departing spouse to obtain their entitlement.

This is where the trouble starts as it is often the case that there are business relationships between various family members and shared assets.

It is also common that the farming property itself as well as other family assets are owned by a company/trust arrangement established as part of succession planning many years earlier.

This means that any arrangements to divide these assets between the husband and wife will by necessity drag in other family members.

These family members will also be very keen to protect their interests in this property and not have assets potentially sold out from underneath them.

The legal and practical issues are very complex and involve such things as:

1. Inheritances and/or intergenerational succession planning.
2. Life estates and other equitable interests of the extended family.
3. Rural properties that have been run as family partnerships over generations.
4. Family partnerships that involve several other properties
5. The sale of part or all of the farming property to realise the interest of the departing spouse but also affecting extended family members.
6. Valuation issues.
7. The sale of rural property that significantly reduces the income and viability of the farming enterprise as a whole.
8. The disentangling of complex corporate structures established over many years and generations.
9. Tax.

It is difficult, time-consuming and expensive to navigate through the minefield that a marriage breakdown can create for an intergenerational farming business. It requires significant legal and accountancy expertise to resolve these issues as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

Familiarity with the complex operation of the law in such matters is essential to avoid an expensive legal debacle where outcomes often cannot be confidently predicted.

The last thing you want is to end up in the Family Court not only with your former spouse but with other members of your extended family such as your siblings and parents who are only there because they need to protect their interests.

The post Family Law and the Family Farm appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

– A house;
– A car, boat or caravan;
– Superannuation;
– Shares; or
– A business

The answer is ‘yes’ if you don’t get the right advice.

Many people are unaware that the simple act of dividing assets with their spouse will probably have taxation consequences of one sort or another.

It doesn’t matter whether you are an everyday wage earner or have significant wealth tied up in complex structures such as partnerships, companies and trusts.

Depending on your situation the tax payable can take the form of stamp duty, income tax, ‘deemed dividends ‘and GST.

Tax is ordinarily payable if you are:

– Transferring an asset such as a house or car from one spouse to the other
– Receiving or paying an asset or monies out of a family business
– Receiving an interest in your spouse’s superannuation fund

The taxation consequences of dividing your assets should be taken into account before the agreement is finalised.

For example, if you acquire your spouse’s half share in your home as part of an informal agreement you could pay around $6,000 in stamp duty to the government for an average priced home in the country or about $16,000 if you live in one of our larger cities.

If you don’t get specialist advice the first you will know about this sting in the tail is after you have finalised your agreement or when you lodge your next tax return. By this time it is all too late and you have to pay everything.

Can you afford this sort of nasty surprise?

If not, let us make it fair and help you get the most out of your property settlement.

Contact our office on (02) 6333 4400 or email info@kingcain.com.au for further information.

Matthew Oakley
Accredited Family Law Specialist
Partner

The post Will You Pay The Tax Man Twice When Separating? appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

In most relationships there is a division of roles, duties and responsibilities.  Parties choose to live in a way which will advance their interests either individually and as a partnership.  They make different contributions to the relationship which the law recognises cannot simply be assessed in monetary terms or to the extent that they have financial consequences.  As a result of this, homemaker contributions (usually primarily made by women) are given as much weight as those contributions of the primary breadwinner.

On separation, division of roles and responsibilities that the relationship produced means that the parties are left largely in the same personal situation that they undertook during the course of the relationship.  However, the world at large does not recognise that the value of homemaker contributions as being financially equal to those contributions of the breadwinner.

Post separation, the party who assumed the less financially rewarded responsibilities is at an immediate disadvantage.  They often cannot simply turn to more financially rewarding activities, such as a career that has been put on hold during the course of the relationship, usually for many years.

Whilst the Courts can and do make an adjustment because of the disparity of income earning capacities that has arisen as a consequence of the roles and activities of each of the parties, it is a very difficult exercise to undertake to determine what adjustment would be appropriate in all the circumstances having regard to the length of the relationship and the skills and qualifications that determine income earning capacity of the person who had the primary care of the children during the relationship.

This difficulty has been compounded in cases where there are older children and for whatever reason the parties decide to enter into Parenting Arrangements that provides for the children to spend equal time with each parent.  Not unusually these arrangements are entered into after Family Dispute Resolution mediation and prior to anyone obtaining independent legal advice.

It is proper to take into account the economic ramifications of having the responsibility for the care of children and the quasi economic contributions involved in raising the children which include washing, ironing, cooking, transporting and the like.  It is appropriate to bear in mind salary and income opportunities foregone because of responsibilities to children and appropriate to recognise that such responsibilities have involved sacrifices.

It is, however, very difficult to give economic value to these roles and sacrifices made.

Typically,  the Courts allow a percentage of the asset pool to the parent who has the care and control of the children, precisely what that percentage is depends on a number of factors such as the number and age of the children, what Child Support (if any) is being paid and the size of the asset pool.

What many parents fail to realise is that the adjustment that the Court would ordinarily make to one parent who has the care and control of the children, will no longer be available where the care is shared equally.

Whilst the children should never be seen as a mechanism by which one parent can obtain a larger proportion of the asset pool, when the care of children is shared, it becomes even more important that an appropriate allowance is made to the “stay at home parent” for those sacrifices made during the relationship that has put them in a position where they are financially disadvantaged because they have not been able to pursue a career or develop an income earning capacity as large as their spouses.

It is a dilemma that the Courts need to deal with but it also causes significant trauma and financial stress to the party who is at financial disadvantage as they now need to prove the level of their loss of income earning capacity or career options that has been caused as a consequence of their relationship.  This is not easy to do.

The post Do Parenting Arrangements Affect Your Property Entitlements? appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

You may even have had the assistance of a Mediator, written your agreement down, and implemented it.

You may have even re-partnered and purchased another home and generally moved on.

What you may not have done is to have your property agreement formalised.

Big mistake.

If you have not formalised your property agreement then months or even years down the track, you may receive the shock of your life when you are served with your former spouses application for a property adjustment.

Are you safe?  Well the short answer is no.

Irrespective of time limits that apply to the automatic right to commence property proceedings, the Family Law Act allows proceedings to be commenced out of time in some circumstances, sometimes decades later.  If the Court is satisfied that the hardship that can be caused to one party or to a child of the relationship outweighs the hardship caused to the other party if the Court does not grant permission to allow proceedings to be commenced out of time.

Further, if you commence proceedings in relation to children or other non-property related matters at a later time, your former spouse can join property proceedings to that application in their response, without having to go through the normal process of applying to commence proceedings out of time.

Depending on the individual circumstances, this can occur even years later and in some cases that have come before the Court have been as much as decades later.

Further, there are also potential tax benefits in formalising your agreement, eg when transferring the former family home or investment property there is no stamp duty payable if it is done in accordance with a Court Order, there are concessions in relation to CGT for investment properties and for those who are in private business. There are also
potentially very significant tax considerations such as CGT and when assets are transferred out of a family company or if dividends are paid as part of a Family Law settlement.

So even if you are someone with only your home to divide or your assets are more extensive, there are very important reasons and benefits in formalising your property settlements.

The fact that you have done so informally may not save you from a claim arising from your distant past.

The post A Sting in the Tail – Informal Family Law Property Settlements appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

Following these amendments to the Family Law Act, there are now several organisations who offer mediation services, whether it be Family Dispute Resolution in relation to children’s matters, or general Mediation involving property.   One thing that must always be remembered is that the organisations and people involved in providing these services are not only prohibited from giving the legal advice, they are often unqualified to do so unless they are experienced Family Law Solicitors or Barristers.

There are however some Family Law Solicitors and Barristers who have become Accredited Mediators and Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners and they alone  have a detailed knowledge and understanding of the Family Law Act, the Family Court System, and the range of outcomes that would be likely in each individual circumstance.

Many people attend mediation believing that the Mediator will assist them in providing guidance to ensure that any outcome is fair and within the range.

In fact, a large number of our clients have told us that they believe they have been given advice by the Mediators as to what a Court would or would not take into consideration and what a likely outcome would be. They tell us they have been given advice  as to the importance and/or relevance of such things as inheritances, superannuation, valuations and monetary gifts.  In relation to children, our clients say they have been told such things as “you having supported your partner’s children doesn’t matter”, “the Courts never allow equal time” or “you do (or don’t) have to send the children on contact” in circumstances where it was completely inappropriate to say so.  Almost without exception, what they say they have been told was wrong.

Not only are Mediators not supposed to provide any legal advice, the provision of legal advice by unqualified people who do not hold a Practising Certificate is illegal.

A mediator’s role can be summarised as follows:

1. Their primary purpose is to assist the parties to take possession of the dispute for themselves.
2. It is the parties who bring the issues to the table that they want to be considered in relation to the dispute.  This is totally unlike litigation where the issues are narrow and defined by the legal context.  Mediation often assists the parties to get to the underlying causes of the problem.
3. The mediator then gets the parties to discuss the issues and look at ways that they can resolve the dispute.  Up to this stage the mediator is only a facilitator to open up discussion between the parties and assist them to come up with their own solutions.
4. A mediator’s role is then to ascertain whether the solution arrived at by the parties:

(i) Is workable

(ii) Comes within a range of appropriate outcomes

(iii) To ensure that no party is overborne, and that each party is equally empowered.

In the context of legal proceedings and in particular the case of Family Law matters, a mediator cannot properly fulfill these tasks without having an understanding of both Court process, relevant facts and circumstances that the Family Court would ordinarily consider in determining likely outcomes and in particular in property matters a fundamental understanding of such things as stamp duties, any taxation consequences or enforcement in the event of a default that will invariably arise in such matters.  In children’s matters, a detailed knowledge of current decisions and an appreciation of all the matters that need to be included in any order, is also required.

In other words, a Mediator or Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner can only provide any effective assistance if the parties have already received their own legal advice.  Unfortunately many people attend mediation before obtaining advice as to their rights and entitlements and those of their children, from properly qualified Family Law Solicitors.

Often the distinction between guidance of parties’ towards a solution and the provision of uninformed  advice can be difficult to identify and in our experience a very high proportion of our clients who have attended such mediations believe that they have received  advice by the Mediator as to their rights and entitlements and rely on what they have been told, believing it to be properly informed.

In such circumstances, many people have been guided to accept outcomes that are grossly unfair and inappropriate and but for the timely intervention of properly informed legal advice provided by qualified Family Law experts, these people would have suffered both significant financial loss and/or cause major harm to their family unit by having inappropriate parenting arrangements for their children put in place.

It is that all important initial advice at the point where there are usually high levels of stress and anxiety that can make a critical difference to both time, outcome and costs involved in separating.  At mediation you will often be required to make important decisions that will have a significant effect upon you and your children’s future as well as your financial security on the run, often by persons who are unqualified and unable to give any guidance, but merely wish to be able to say that they have successfully mediated another Family Law matter.

Before you start the mediation process, it is important that you are aware of your rights and entitlements by getting expert advice right from the start and developing strategies that will enable you to create the parenting and financial arrangements that you believe are best for the financial security for yourself and your family.

So be warned, whilst “free” mediation may look attractive at the start, it does not come without a cost that you and your family may be paying for many, many years to come.

As an alternative, a number of Family Law Solicitors have developed relationships with Practicing Family Law Barristers who have become Mediators/Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners.  We can now provide a service where you and your Lawyer can participate in mediation with someone who knows what’s what and who can provide realistic guidance to help you and your former spouse or partner come to an agreement that is both sensible and fair.  It is not without some initial cost, but unlike the “free” alternatives, you can be confident that the outcome will be fair, that you will be in the best position you can be to rebuild for your future, and you won’t be paying for any mistakes made because you felt pressured to settle there and then.

It has been our experience that nearly all matters conducted in this way have been resolved more quickly and cost effectively than the current alternatives.

Give us a call if you are worried about being forced into agreeing to something you don’t want to as part of mediation process where your Solicitor can’t help you.  We have the solution that protects your rights and entitlements and those of your family.

The post Free Family Law Mediation Can Cost You More Than You Think appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

If you are in a defacto relationship then the date that you and your partner separated is critically important.

If you separated on or after 1 March 2009 then the Family Law Act applies.  You case will be heard by the Family Court or Federal Magistrates Court and the principals that determine how your property is to be divided is identical to those outlined for married couples.

If you separated prior to 1 March 2009 then The Property (Relationships Act) applies unless you and your former partner both consent to using the Family Law Act.   The Property Relationships Act is different in many ways to the Family Law Act and is State New South Wales Legislation whereas the Family Law Act is an act of the Commonwealth.

If your matter comes within the Property Relationships Act then the Local, District or Supreme Courts of New South Wales will determine the matter as opposed to the Family Court or Federal Magistrates Court.

The main differences in the two sets of Legislation are:

1. Unlike the Family Law Act, the Property Relationship Act only has three steps being:
   1. Step 1 – identifies the assets of the parties or either of them.
   2. Step 2 –  assesses the financial and non-financial (direct and indirect financial contributions) made by the parties.
   3. Step 3 – The Courts must make Orders that are just and equitable.

There is no third step like that under the Family Law Act in that there is no assessment of whether or not either of the parties have any future needs.  This can make a very significant difference if there are children of the relationship or whether one party’s ability to earn an income has been effected by the relationship.

Another significant difference is that ordinarily there are very limited grounds upon which an application for spousal maintenance can be made.

Superannuation is not treated as property under the Property Relationships Act and it cannot be split.  It still however can be taken into account depending on whether the other party has made a contribution to the other party’s superannuation entitlements.

WHAT IS A DEFACTO RELATIONSHIP?

A defacto relationship is one between two people who live together as a couple and who are not married to one another, nor are they related in any other way.  They can include same sex couples.

When considering whether a defacto relationship exists, the Courts have regard to several aspects including:

• The length of the relationship.  Ordinarily a defacto relationship does not exist if it is less than two (2) years, unless there is a child of the relationship.
• Whether there is a sexual relationship.
• Financial arrangements.
• The living arrangements.
• Care of children.
• How much the couple have shared their lives.
• How others view their relationship.

Certain domestic relationships can also give rise to a property claim where two people live together in a close personal relationship, whether or not they are related, or where one person provides domestic support and care for the other, for example, circumstances where one party is cared for by another such as elderly parent being cared for by a child.

Pre requisites for making a claim:

• Generally both parties must have lived in NSW for a substantial part of their relationship.
• Both people must have lived together with at least two (2) years (except where there is a child or children).
• You can apply for a property adjustment even if you have not been living together for more than two (2) years if:
  • You have a child together, or
  • The person seeking an adjustment has made a substantial contribution to the property of the other party that would mean that it would be unjust for the Courts not to allow a claim to be made.
  • The person seeking an adjustment is caring for the child of the parties and it would unjust for the Courts not to allow the claim.

Whichever Act is relevant the Family Law Act or the Property Relationships Act, proceedings need to be commenced within two (2) years of the date of separation, outside of this period, special permission needs to be obtained from the Courts to proceed with the case.

The post Property Settlement for Defacto Couples appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.

The property available for distribution is “the property of the parties to the marriage or either of them”.  Accordingly, the property is not just limited to property in your joint names, but also that is in your name only or your spouses.   This may also include any interest in Family Trusts or assets that may be in a third party’s name.

In determining an application for the division of property the Court adopts a four step process:

Step 1 – Identifying and valuing the parties’ assets, liabilities and financial resources.  This steps involves identifying all property in you or your spouse’s name.  This includes all superannuation entitlements either you or your spouse may have.

It often requires obtaining market appraisals or formal valuations of Real Estate, or formal valuations of any business that you and/or your spouse own.  Sometimes Trusts need also to be valued and expert accountancy advice obtained.

Step 2 – Assessing respective financial and non-financial contributions. This involves the Court looking at what financial contributions have been made by each of the parties to current assets.  This requires an assessment of:

• Any initial contributions made at the commencement of the relationship.
• Any lump sum contributions made during the marriage, such as any inheritances, worker’s compensation claims, gifts from parents or other family members, redundancies and income received from employment or other sources.
• Any contributions made after separation including non-financial contributions as homemaker and parent or to the maintenance of any assets that are owned.  Sometimes the Court needs to take into account whether one party or the other has made any special contributions which have enabled you to acquire an asset in a way that you may not otherwise have been able to, or also where one party had deliberately or recklessly behaved in such a way to cause a loss.

Step 3 – Assess parties’ future needs. In this step, the Court has to take into        consideration such things as:

• Income, property and financial resources of both parties.
• Your respective age and health.
• Whether or not you have the primary care of any children under 18.
• Whether one or more of the parties is in a relationship that is assisting them meet their financial needs.

The Court, after considering these issues, can make a further adjustment in favour of one of the parties if it is appropriate to do so.

Step 4 – The outcome must be just and equitable. In this step the Court has to ensure that the Orders that it proposes is just and equitable.  After the Court has considered all matters under the first  three steps referred to above, in determining the property settlement, the over-riding consideration then is that the Court cannot make an order unless it is satisfied that in all the circumstances it is just and equitable to do so.

This does not mean that the Court then reassesses the earlier three steps but:

• Looks at the findings under the first three steps.
• Looks t the effects as to the determinations as to contributions and future needs factors.
• Resolves what order is just and equitable in all the circumstances of the case.

This more often than not has the effect in the Court deciding for example whether or not your home needs to be sold or whether your spouse can retain it to pay to you any adjustment that may be necessary for you to achieve your proper entitlement.

The post Property Settlement for Married Couples appeared first on King Cain Solicitors.