NSW How are de facto couple separations judged by court?

[JamesD1984]

Assuming the couple have no children, are both working, i.e. neither are financially dependent and no legal agreements agreed prior to separation, how does the family court look to split assets? Is it 50/50 or does it look based on who contributed what or something in-between?

I'm reading: "How does a court decide how to divide assets and debts?"

Property and finances after separation - Family Court of Australia

This is very general so it is very hard to know how these are put into practice.

 

[AllForHer]

A property settlement can be whatever the parties agree to, but if they can't agree and decide to ask the Court instead, the Court asks four questions:

1. What's the value of the shared asset pool?
2. What are the financial and non-financial contributions of each party?
3. What are the future needs of each party?
4. Is the settlement just and equitable?

Generally speaking, the shorter a relationship, the more likely each party is to walk away with what they brought into the relationship. As an example, if Partner A bought a house 15 years before meeting Partner B, and Partner A was only with Partner B for, say, three years, then Partner A's financial and non-financial contributions to that asset would be considered significantly larger than Partner B's contribution. As such, Partner A would probably have a property settlement for that house made substantially in his/her favour.

There is no hard and fast rule about who gets what, though. Each case is different, and the Court decides them accordingly.

 

[JamesD1984]

Thank you, that makes sense.