Brisbane Family Law

What is “No Fault Divorce”?

In Australia, we have a “no fault divorce” system which means who is to blame is irrelevant. However, you must be separated from your partner for a period of at least 12 months, living separate lives and there to be no chance of reconciliation to get a divorce from the Court. Additionally, if there are children aged under 18 years old, the Court will only grant a divorce if it is satisfied that proper arrangements have been made for the welfare of those children.

I only want to settle property and financial issues and/or make parenting arrangements

When you and your former partner separate, not only will you need to make important decisions about the future care of your children, you will need to decide how to divide your property, money and belongings. This can be a daunting prospect as you and your former partner may have obtained the assets, liabilities and personal belongings through a lifetime of growing together and they now suddenly need to be dealt with and divided.

When determining a property settlement there is a four step process the Courts adopt:

• Identify and value the net property of the parties available for division

• Identify, assess and evaluate the relevant contributions made by both parties to the marriage (this includes financial and non-financial contributions)

• Assess and evaluate the future needs of both parties

• Ensure that the overall settlement is just and equitable

Wilson Law can help work through these issues to ensure that your rights are protected and that the property division is fair and reasonable in all circumstances. As there are strict timeframes which apply to separation or property, we recommend that you contact us immediately to arrange a free initial consultation.

Children’s Matters 

When you and your former partner separate, you will need to make decisions about the future care of your children. You will need to consider how parental responsibility will be divided, where and with whom the children will live, who the children will spend time and communicate with as well as many other matters. These decisions can be the most important of your life. Wilson Law can assist you with negotiating the parenting arrangements to ensure that you and your former partner arrive at an agreement that is the best possible one for your circumstances and which causes minimal disruption to your children’s lives.

There are also many other aspects to children’s matters which may be affected by the separation and which you may need to consider. These include:

• Negotiating parenting plans and obtaining consent orders

• Obtaining parenting orders from the Court

• Child relocation, abduction and recovery

• Child support agreements

• Paternity issues and wrongful child support claims

Working through these issues can be a stressful and an emotionally challenging time, which is why you should come and see our lawyers as they have the knowledge and skill to handle your case with high attention to detail and care.

Spousal Maintenance

When separation occurs, spousal maintenance may be required to be paid from one partner to another if they cannot meet their own reasonable expenses from their own income or assets. This obligation may continue well beyond the finalisation of a divorce depending on the circumstances involved. However, there is no automatic right to maintenance and it is not presumed that the husband must pay his wife or vice versa. Maintenance can be payable for both married and de facto couples.

The amount you or your former partner may have to pay or may be entitled to receive is influenced by many factors including:

• The income of each party and their ability for gainful employment
• The age of and relative health of each party
• The assets and other financial resources of each party
• The financial commitments of each party including child care and maintenance
• Any benefits, pensions or other allowances a party may be receiving
• The standard of living for each party

Even though maintenance payments may be required for quite a long time the intention is that they are temporary. The goal is for the financially disadvantaged party to eventually be able to support themselves.

Understanding and enforcing your maintenance rights and obligations can be complicated and requires the input of an expert family lawyer as soon as possible after the relationship has broken down. Our goal is to protect your interests as we guide you through the process of reaching a fair maintenance agreement with your former partner.

Please contact us today to arrange free initial consultation to discuss whether you may be entitled or liable to pay spousal maintenance.