Property Settlement

It is acknowledged that the law as to how a Court determines an appropriate property settlement can be simply stated as being a "four step approach" as is outlined below:

• Firstly identify the assets, liabilities, financial resources and superannuation of the parties and attribute a value to each.

• Secondly assess the financial and non financial contributions of each of the parties over the course of the relationship including assessing contribution as parent and homemaker. At this stage the Court will assess such contributions and therefore each party's entitlements on a percentage basis.

• Thirdly assess each party's relative future needs taking into account a number of factors. At this stage the Court will assess whether any adjustment is required to the contribution based entitlement to recognise that a party's future needs exceed those of the other party.

• Fourthly the Court will determine whether any adjustment of the contribution and future needs based entitlements of the parties needs to be made to provide a just and equitable division between them.

At Twigg Family Lawyers we provide a detailed and careful analysis of the application of each of the above four steps to our client's particular circumstances. In doing so clients are provided with realistic expectations of their entitlements at an early stage of the negotiation process.