VIC 5-Year De Facto Relationship - Am I Entitled to Anything?

[Wandering wilbury]

The short story is, I've been in a de facto relationship for 5 years. I own a house worth $300, 000 which I had when the relationship started. He has over half million Superannuation portfolio, some of which were proceeds from houses he sold while I was with him, and proceeds from workcover claim. Growth from investment has been around 60, 000+ in our time together. He owns $80, 000 motor home.

Question is, am I entitled to anything for the time we have been together as I have supported him emotionally and physically in that time. We are both of disability support pension and I only have $8000 in savings and a car worth 6000, which I had at beginning of relationship.TIA

 

[AllForHer]

Entitlement to a former spouse's assets is not automatically entrenched in law. How it works is that de facto relationships may be subject to a property settlement if the parties wish, and can ask the court to decide one for them if they are unable to agree.

The court asks four questions:

1. What's the value of the shared asset pool?

This is where your house, super, savings and car would be considered, as would his motor home, super, savings and car.

2. What were the financial and non-financial contributions of each party?

In terms of financial contributions, it sounds like his may far exceed yours because of his investment portfolio. If you were his carer, however, your non-financial contribution will also be given weight.

3. What are the future needs of each party?

If I am right in assuming you have no children together, then future needs will mostly relate to employability. This will depend heavily on the nature of your respective disabilities.

4. Is the settlement just and equitable?

This will be for the Court to determine.

In short, you can pursue a property settlement either through your ex or through the Court, and you have two years after the relationship ends to do so. However, it's not an automatic entitlement; the Court would need to consider the above to determine a settlement that is just and equitable for both of you.

 

[Wandering wilbury]

Thank you so much for reply. It has made a bit more sense of what I have read.

We are both retired because of injury and in our early 60's so I guess I have a big decision to make as he won't consider handing over my request of (5000) as a settlement.

Thank you, again

 

[sammy01]

I agree with all above. One of the main things is length of relationship. 5 years is very short. I reckon you'd be wasting your time in court. It would cost you more to run a case than you're likely to get from the court settlement.

 

[AllForHer]

You should definitely consider the cost of Court proceedings against what you're likely to get out of it. It will cost significantly more than $5000 to pursue a settlement through Court, but I also don't think the Court would grant much more than that anyway because your respective situations are so similar - both similar in age, both with disabilities, both with reasonable contributions. The Court may even find slightly in his favour because of the financial contributions through his investment portfolio.