Property Settlement
Property settlements can tear sensible people apart. You have worked hard to buy your home and now you are faced with how you are supposed to split your assets. What you receive from the property settlement may determine your immediate and long-term future. You want, and deserve, what is legally yours. Our role at the Fraser Coast Family Law Centre is to help you work out what is fair and reasonable.
So what is fair and reasonable?
You want a baseline first to get an idea of what you potentially are splitting. The first step to determining this is to list out all of your assets and your best estimate of their value. Then work through a list of outstanding debts (including mortgages and credit cards). From there, you can take a total of your assets and subtract your debts from that number – that’s roughly what you are working with in a property settlement.
Keep in mind that a property settlement can be done at any time after you and your partner separate. Married couples don’t have to wait until they are divorced, however, it is important to note that once you have divorced you have 12 months from the final date to resolve any property issues. If you are currently in a de facto relationship, you have 2 years from the final separation date to finalise property settlement.
It is important to think longer term than simply, “what am I going to get out of this” when determining your property settlement.
If you have children, this is the time to be putting their needs first. Who is going to keep the house? Is it the same person who is going to have primary care of the children? Compromise when it comes to settlement is a must. Remember, there is no point in fighting to keep the house if you can’t afford to maintain it.
