A partial property settlement is a distribution of assets or financial resources between separated parties in advance of final orders. The Court tends to be reluctant to make a partial property settlement because it takes place prior to evidence being tested before the Court.
There can be a lot of uncertainty around whether a couple is in a de facto relationship. A person is in a de facto relationship with another person (irrespective of gender) if they have a relationship with that person as a couple living together on a genuine domestic basis, having regard to all the circumstances of their relationship.
In determining if leave is to be granted to permit a party to commence property proceedings out of time, the court must be satisfied that hardship would be caused to a party or child of the relationship, if leave was not granted.
Just last Wednesday the High Court handed down a landmark decision confirming the legal parentage of a sperm donor. Robert Masson donated sperm to his friend Susan Parsons in 2006, leading to the conception of now twelve-year-old “B”. Robert is listed on B’s birth certificate as her parent. B calls Robert “Daddy”.
This year the High Court will hear a landmark case on the legal parentage of a child born via sperm donation.
The Court has a wide discretion about how they deal with inheritances received during a relationship as well as after separation when making property settlement orders. Inheritances are not a protected category of property and will not automatically be treated differently from other assets available for distribution.
When couples separate, it is often a difficult and emotionally draining time for all those involved. One often challenging consideration is determining the future care arrangements that will best meet their children’s needs.
In the 2018 case of Goldman v Goldman, the wife was the primary carer to the parties’ two children aged 13 and 11 years of age respectively at the date of the trial prior to separation, and the children had also lived with the wife since separation.
I recently presented an information session for Law Week 2018 entitled “Do I need a Pre-Nup? Everything you ever wanted to know about Financial Agreements / Pre-Nuptial Agreements”. There was a request for the information provided at the session and so I intend to summarise the information provided along with links to assist.
With the new year upon us, many new enquiries relate to parenting orders and whether these can be changed. Thankfully in the recent case of Searson & Searson [2017] FamCAFC 119 (5 July 2017) the Full Court (Murphy, Kent and Loughnan JJ) reviewed the current case law with respect to this.