Hello everyone,
Prepare for a long post but I'm looking at essentially other people's legal opinions to see if similar to my lawyer / ex's lawyers. In my honest opinion, I just wanted that we take out what we put in, then just 50% the remainder like the increase in equity.
So my ex and myself started to live together as a de-facto couple at the end of 2009 and mid 2016 I decided to end the relationship after 3 months of evaluating the relationship and came to the conclusion there's no difference between being in this relationship or being single.
Before living together, I had an online savings account with about $44,000 and it was under only my name, paid taxes on the interest and sole contributor to this account (she know of the account but nothing besides what brand and how much I mention on it). At the same time I had a HECS debt of $19,000 so still works out to be about $25,000 in savings.
In this time of living together, I paid off my HECS in full and aggressively saved to have $80,000 on the same savings account (once again I was sole contributor) also in this time she lost her job. After 6 months of being unemployed, I got her a job with my company (the whole "who you know, not what you know") after speaking to the manager.
The $80,000 savings plus her $10,000 redundancy was then later used as a deposit for the current house we both live in and since the split, we obviously been sleeping in different rooms (I went into the spare bedroom while she's in the master bedroom), cooking own dinners, etc.
The equity of the house is now about $144,000 but we have lived here only 2.5 years (built in 2014) and the house has increased in value by about $50,000 so obviously our deposit pays a big role specifically mine because the loan itself wasn't enough to get the house and had a shortfall of about $60,000.
Despite her working one year before me, I've worked full-time since 2007 (then the occasional part-time to transfer stores due to moving house) where she has been part-time the entire time. She earns about $30,000 each year (give or take $2,000) where myself is about $47,000 (give or take $2,000). We have no kids because we don't want kids and she doesn't want to be the housewife/homemaker so there is no reason to be only part-time. Also to make a note that the pay-grade (especially now) is identical and reason why I earn more is because I simply do more hours (38hours vs ~26hours).
Our superannuation has a difference of about $17,000 with mine being higher since purely because I work full-time as we would earn close to the same amount each year if she was full-time in either jobs and also added a few hundred dollars in as voluntary contribution which the government's matched co-contribution.
In the time living here (still as a couple), I paid solely for the fence, top soil, curtains, reverse cycle aircon/heater, 4kw solar system, landscaping, etc while she has spent money on what I consider lifestyle/luxury like massages, day spa, etc.
She had paid the minimum repayment share per week $180 and only $20 each week towards bills (worked out her share of bills per month would be about; $60 council fees, $25 water, $30 internet, $40 electricity, $15 gas, $30 house insurance, so $80 would not cover it and I had to chase her up on it to pay the difference.)
After the separation, she went to the lawyers and demanded 50% which of course I disagree to. I tried to write down the logical payout with the breakdown of how I came to it (so the deposits were taken out of the equity, the money I spent on the house, etc) and all I get from her is that "It isn't enough". Later I get a Letter of Demand from her lawyer asking 50% to which I went and got my own lawyer. I also received a text from her dad saying he is bank-rolling her legal fees and do anything to make his children happy (between the lines seems to be either pay 50%, take you to court for 50%, or financially starve me so don't have a choice).
Currently we are negotiating via lawyers but there are interesting facts:
1) she said we have lived together for 14 years (2003) when in fact it was end of 2009 (6.5years).
2) mentioned I'm a full-time manager (never have been) both 1) and 2) were in the initial letter.
3) said she had only $6.5k super then after demands from me on behalf of my lawyer for a few weeks (literally one day from signing a Superannuation Kit to get the super from her first job of 6.5years), she gets that statement and it comes in as $23,057 (I estimated $20,000 to my lawyer based purely on contribution of 9%, no taxes or interest calculated). Clearly she was trying to hide it because no way she can forget if she only worked 2 jobs in her life, and this super was from when she worked at her first job for 6.5 years.
The only real assets are the house, followed by the super (then got just household items like basic fridge, washing machine, etc but nothing fancy/expensive). After settling I plan to keep the house since I've invested so much so I take on the mortgage, and it the outcome should suit the personalty, I wanted a house so I keep it, she wants a lifestyle so she gets only money.
So now you know the backstory, does she actually have a claim to get half despite me saving up to $80,000 in a separate bank account? I have managed to get all 7 years of statements from that account, as well as bank and credit card (pay the credit card back in full every month).
Even now I want more then her 6 months of bank statements since her lawyer demand 12 months from me. Looking through it, she's had a few massages ($50, $60 here and there), been to Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs (has even booked another session recently) and even booked a holiday/tour of $1,381 after we have separated, yet she wants spousal maintenance which clearly indicates to me she is capable of looking after herself.
I value your opinions, whether it's something I may not want to hear but rather get more opinions legally then just my lawyer who I feel is a little soft (compared to hers).
I want to settle this out of court (obviously given the small asset pool) and my fees, etc but almost feel like I have a better chance at court.
This is because we can expose that she has lied during the negotiations more then once and I have proof of my savings/bank statements prior and during the relationship, but also she risks losing potentially at least 20% up to 50% of her payout in court fees.
Thanks for your time,
Ryan
Prepare for a long post but I'm looking at essentially other people's legal opinions to see if similar to my lawyer / ex's lawyers. In my honest opinion, I just wanted that we take out what we put in, then just 50% the remainder like the increase in equity.
So my ex and myself started to live together as a de-facto couple at the end of 2009 and mid 2016 I decided to end the relationship after 3 months of evaluating the relationship and came to the conclusion there's no difference between being in this relationship or being single.
Before living together, I had an online savings account with about $44,000 and it was under only my name, paid taxes on the interest and sole contributor to this account (she know of the account but nothing besides what brand and how much I mention on it). At the same time I had a HECS debt of $19,000 so still works out to be about $25,000 in savings.
In this time of living together, I paid off my HECS in full and aggressively saved to have $80,000 on the same savings account (once again I was sole contributor) also in this time she lost her job. After 6 months of being unemployed, I got her a job with my company (the whole "who you know, not what you know") after speaking to the manager.
The $80,000 savings plus her $10,000 redundancy was then later used as a deposit for the current house we both live in and since the split, we obviously been sleeping in different rooms (I went into the spare bedroom while she's in the master bedroom), cooking own dinners, etc.
The equity of the house is now about $144,000 but we have lived here only 2.5 years (built in 2014) and the house has increased in value by about $50,000 so obviously our deposit pays a big role specifically mine because the loan itself wasn't enough to get the house and had a shortfall of about $60,000.
Despite her working one year before me, I've worked full-time since 2007 (then the occasional part-time to transfer stores due to moving house) where she has been part-time the entire time. She earns about $30,000 each year (give or take $2,000) where myself is about $47,000 (give or take $2,000). We have no kids because we don't want kids and she doesn't want to be the housewife/homemaker so there is no reason to be only part-time. Also to make a note that the pay-grade (especially now) is identical and reason why I earn more is because I simply do more hours (38hours vs ~26hours).
Our superannuation has a difference of about $17,000 with mine being higher since purely because I work full-time as we would earn close to the same amount each year if she was full-time in either jobs and also added a few hundred dollars in as voluntary contribution which the government's matched co-contribution.
In the time living here (still as a couple), I paid solely for the fence, top soil, curtains, reverse cycle aircon/heater, 4kw solar system, landscaping, etc while she has spent money on what I consider lifestyle/luxury like massages, day spa, etc.
She had paid the minimum repayment share per week $180 and only $20 each week towards bills (worked out her share of bills per month would be about; $60 council fees, $25 water, $30 internet, $40 electricity, $15 gas, $30 house insurance, so $80 would not cover it and I had to chase her up on it to pay the difference.)
After the separation, she went to the lawyers and demanded 50% which of course I disagree to. I tried to write down the logical payout with the breakdown of how I came to it (so the deposits were taken out of the equity, the money I spent on the house, etc) and all I get from her is that "It isn't enough". Later I get a Letter of Demand from her lawyer asking 50% to which I went and got my own lawyer. I also received a text from her dad saying he is bank-rolling her legal fees and do anything to make his children happy (between the lines seems to be either pay 50%, take you to court for 50%, or financially starve me so don't have a choice).
Currently we are negotiating via lawyers but there are interesting facts:
1) she said we have lived together for 14 years (2003) when in fact it was end of 2009 (6.5years).
2) mentioned I'm a full-time manager (never have been) both 1) and 2) were in the initial letter.
3) said she had only $6.5k super then after demands from me on behalf of my lawyer for a few weeks (literally one day from signing a Superannuation Kit to get the super from her first job of 6.5years), she gets that statement and it comes in as $23,057 (I estimated $20,000 to my lawyer based purely on contribution of 9%, no taxes or interest calculated). Clearly she was trying to hide it because no way she can forget if she only worked 2 jobs in her life, and this super was from when she worked at her first job for 6.5 years.
The only real assets are the house, followed by the super (then got just household items like basic fridge, washing machine, etc but nothing fancy/expensive). After settling I plan to keep the house since I've invested so much so I take on the mortgage, and it the outcome should suit the personalty, I wanted a house so I keep it, she wants a lifestyle so she gets only money.
So now you know the backstory, does she actually have a claim to get half despite me saving up to $80,000 in a separate bank account? I have managed to get all 7 years of statements from that account, as well as bank and credit card (pay the credit card back in full every month).
Even now I want more then her 6 months of bank statements since her lawyer demand 12 months from me. Looking through it, she's had a few massages ($50, $60 here and there), been to Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs (has even booked another session recently) and even booked a holiday/tour of $1,381 after we have separated, yet she wants spousal maintenance which clearly indicates to me she is capable of looking after herself.
I value your opinions, whether it's something I may not want to hear but rather get more opinions legally then just my lawyer who I feel is a little soft (compared to hers).
I want to settle this out of court (obviously given the small asset pool) and my fees, etc but almost feel like I have a better chance at court.
This is because we can expose that she has lied during the negotiations more then once and I have proof of my savings/bank statements prior and during the relationship, but also she risks losing potentially at least 20% up to 50% of her payout in court fees.
Thanks for your time,
Ryan
