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Navigating your Separation & Divorce with Anumis Legal
Even if your separation and divorce is amicable and you want to untangle your lives in a friendly and reasonable way, there are some basic principles that can assist you to do what you need to do to divide your property and finalise your property settlement.
All too often, the process of separating and getting a divorce is complex, emotional, and upsetting and causes the people involved anxiety, stress, and worry.
At Anumis Legal, we are here to listen to your unique circumstances, review your assets and liabilities, advise you as to the options available to you and assist you to resolve your separation matters with calm, care, and efficiency.
Our divorce lawyers have your back, and we consider and respect what you believe to be your best outcome.
How To Ensure Your Smooth Separation
Before you can apply for divorce, you must have been separated from your former partner for twelve (12) months. Often, in divorce proceedings, there can be a dispute as to when separation actually happened. You can avoid this disagreement by letting your partner know in writing at the time you decide to separate. When you put your separation date in writing to your partner, you ensure that you minimise confusion and disputes down the track.
It is possible that two people can live under the same roof and be separated, or live in separate states and not be separated. Whether you are separated depends on the intention of either you or your partner to separate and whether you or your partner act on that intention.
If you cannot come to an agreement and your dispute ends up in court, the court will consider whether all or some of the following aspects of a marriage relationship are not present:
- sexual intercourse between you and your former partner; and
- whether you share day-to-day activities and household chores; and
- whether you share social activities as a married or de facto couple both privately and in public.
An event such as illness, imprisonment, work transfer or travel does not automatically trigger separation. While a marriage or de facto relationship is maintained, you are not legally separate. In these kinds of situations, it is still necessary for you to tell your former partner of your intention to separate and you must act on that intention for separation to occur.
Our Sunshine Coast Family Lawyers can help you ensure a smooth separation between you and your former partner.
Your Property & Parenting Arrangements How Anumis Legal can help you
Our expert Anumis Legal family lawyers assist people to negotiate with each other and/or to mediate to come to mutually acceptable outcomes.
If it proves impossible for you and your former partner to come to an agreement about either your arrangements for care of your children or your property division, then we will take your matter to court. Litigation is an expensive and stressful alternative, but in some cases, it is the only way to achieve finality so that you can both get on with your lives.
When you leave your major decisions to a judicial officer to decide for you, there is a high degree of uncertainty as to the outcomes for you. Additionally, long court proceedings generally lead to increased stress, significant expense and add to the pressure that you and your family will endure at this challenging time.
If you’d like to learn more about how the Anumis Legal Family Law can help you keep out of court to finalise your property and parenting agreements come and talk to our expert divorce lawyers so that we can advise you according to your situation.
Call Nadine Love or Dr John on 07 5455 6347 or email admin@anumis.com.au now for your complimentary consultation.
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Your Property Settlement
While no two relationships are ever the same, when you separate it is necessary to split your property and work out a final settlement. One of the most important reasons for having a property settlement is to wrap up your financial ties with your ex-partner as quickly as possible.
All your joint assets, financial resources and liabilities are considered. This will include both of your superannuation and pension entitlements. When you are considering a property settlement the term property considers almost anything and everything of value, including:
Financial Agreements: Your Options?
If you can agree your property division and finances then you can enter into a financial agreement either by way of a Binding Financial Agreement, or if you want the Court to sign off on your agreement, by making an application for Consent Orders.
By entering into a financial agreement, you will be contracting out of the provisions of the Family Law Act 1975 that would otherwise determine the division of your asset pool in the event of the breakdown of your relationship. This includes all property including superannuation and your entitlements to spousal maintenance. The intended effect of the Agreement is to disregard the five-step process set out above and to divide your property and financial resources as provided for in the Agreement.
Our Anumis Legal Family Law Team
We will explain your rights and help you to move forward. Call Nadine Love or Dr John Cronin on 07 5455 6347 or email admin@anumis.com.au for your complimentary chat with our Noosa Marina Family Lawyers!
What is a Binding Financial Agreement?
A Binding Financial Agreement is a private agreement, much like a private contract between parties, and does not involve a Courts approval or intervention, or registration by any other external body or authority. There is no independent examination by a court, or any other body and it is not a requirement that the outcome it provides for be within the range of potential outcomes likely to be ordered by a court.
The Family Court can set aside financial agreements in certain circumstances which include where:
What If You Cannot Agree On a Binding Financial Agreement?
If your matter goes to Court, it will not look at the property at the date of separation, but at the date of proceedings, and, if it makes it all the way through the Court process, at the date of Trial. There are situations where property or debt acquired after separation by one party is brought into the property pool. That is generally why the longer the delay between separation and property settlement, the more likely that events will happen which will complicate your life and be potentially very costly to you.
The Court will not normally take account of debts incurred after the separation. Here, the word ‘normally’ is unhelpful because we are left to guess at the exceptions. There is nothing in the Family Law Act 1975 (Act) which says that post separation debts will be ignored. This is inevitably a question where the Judge will be asked to exercise his or her discretion as to what is “just and equitable”. There will be factual issues as to whether the debt is legitimate and payable; whether the debt has been reasonably incurred; and whether the debt ought to be shared by the parties to the marriage and if so in what proportion. Debts incurred after separation are usually incurred by one party alone so, as a matter of probability, it is much more likely that the Court will call on the person incurring the debt to pay it.
What are Consent Orders?
When you and your former partner are able to come to an agreement to finalise your parenting and/or property arrangements, that agreement can be filed with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. If approved by a Registrar, then that agreement can become an Order by consent. So, Consent Orders are written agreements approved by the Court after an Application for Consent Orders has been made, and the Consent Orders themselves have been filed in the Family Court Registry, and approved by the Court.
Consent Orders have the same legal effect as an Order made by a Judge after a final hearing, even though you never step foot in a Courtroom.
Once filed, if the Court Registrar is satisfied that there are proper arrangements for your children, (if you have children) and that the orders sought for a property settlement are just and equitable, they will make the requested Consent Orders. “Just and equitable” means that the orders must be fair to both parties and fall within the range of possible outcomes that could have come about had a court determination been made.
Consent Orders are valuable in circumstances where you want to ensure that all of the terms of your agreement can be enforced.
What the Courts consider to determine a property settlement
It is important for you to understand the issues that a court will consider when deciding on such matters, so that you know what you might be entitled to, should you need to go down a court hearing path.
Adjustment of Property Interests
There are several steps the court considers when determining a party’s entitlement to an adjustment of property interests because of the breakdown of a marriage or de facto relationship.
The court will then consider whether the specific order the court proposes to make to implement the percentage division decided upon is “just and equitable” in all the circumstances of your case and make any necessary adjustments.
For Your Complimentary Chat
Book an appointment so that we can advise you on your options regarding your Family Law needs, call Dr John or Nadine Love on 07 5455 6347 to book your complimentary chat, now.
Your Reliable Legal Team: Advise, Mediate, Negotiate & Litigate
From your protection to proactive representation, when tough decisions need robust legal backing, Anumis Legal steps up to the challenge for you. Anumis Legal provides you with efficient, reliable legal solutions, astutely combining assertive legal strategies with compassionate care. Anumis Legal's expert family lawyers ensure you are fully understood and you feel supported while formidably pursuing your interests in any forum, from negotiation tables to courtrooms.
Your Divorce: What the Court requires
What does the court consider when deciding whether to grant your divorce?
As well as the requirement that your marriage has irretrievably broken down (proven by the fact that you have been separated for at least twelve (12) months) and that you are definitely not going to reconcile, the court must be convinced that you and your former partner are sufficiently connected to Australia; that you have made proper arrangements for the care and wellbeing of any children you have together who are under the age of eighteen (18) years. Also, in circumstances where the application for divorce was made less than two years after the marriage, that you have considered reconciliation.
How can you file for your divorce?
You can complete your divorce application yourself and file it online using the Commonwealth Courts Portal. Or the Anumis Legal Dream Team can file your application in the Family Court of Australia for you.
If you choose to ask for our Anumis Legal assistance, our compassionate, empathic and organised family lawyer will take you through the process, step-by-step, to ensure that your application is made correctly and that your documents are uploaded properly.
If you need to attend a hearing you can do so at our office, with our kind and experienced family lawyer beside you, or we can send a link on to you and you can attend wherever you are comfortable. One month and one day after your hearing, your Divorce certificate will appear on the Court Portal and we will forward this to you.
If you want to take the confusion and the sting out of making your Divorce application yourself, our Anumis Legal Dream Team are here to ease the process and support you. Call now for your appointment 07 5455 6347 or email: admin@anumis.com.au. Otherwise, check out our blog on how to get a divorce in Australia.
What to Expect When You Come & See Us at Anumis Legal
When you separate, there is a lot of information for you to get your head around, and we appreciate that you are going through an emotional and stressful time of change. The first thing you can expect is a conversation around the table where we will be able to complete the following:
- Learn about your situation with a view to understanding how we can best advise you to get the resolution you want as efficiently and fast as possible
- Review any documentation you have provided to us and advise upon your options and your prospects.
Once you have had time to read and think about your best way forward, we will set about drafting a Binding Financial Agreement or Consent Orders to take care of your property matters and assist you to negotiate parenting arrangements and finalise those.
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