divorce entitlements and law

gtfpv · 09-09-2005, 04:46 PM

hey peoples . can anyone recommend a website where i can get info on divorce laws and entitlements .i tried google with no luck all the sites are yankee . or superanuation sites . i want to know what your entitled to when you get a divorce as far as income super and assets splitting etc etc . any help or web site would be appreciated . just want the facts please. ta.

Kryton · 09-09-2005, 04:52 PM

http://www.liv.asn.au/public/legalin...Divorce-2.html
http://www.medicineau.net.au/columns...finance12.html
and a page from google worth looking through
http://www.google.com.au/search?hs=4...cr%3DcountryAU

EA2BA · 09-09-2005, 04:53 PM

well pretty much 50% of everything, then the scale slides from there.

My father in law got divorded and he lost 50% of super annuation, amongst other assests and lump sum payments and that was many years ago, i would assume its got worse.

gtfpv · 09-09-2005, 04:58 PM

i'd be happy with 50% I THINK the misses needs a materialistic reality check.

EA2BA · 09-09-2005, 05:12 PM

50% is just a start, if she hasnt been working and you have kids, expect to loose alot more, think of a number then double it :(

**Charliewool** · 09-09-2005, 05:21 PM

There are plenty of family law practices around where you get the 1st consulation for free. (And no obligation to use them for ongoing)... They will do a breakdown of assetts Vs liabilities, both partners incomes, and also outline dependants (kids) requirements & benefits.
Try the yellow pages or local rag, most advertise this freebie

T_Terror · 09-09-2005, 06:21 PM

This is somehting that ive always been curious about.

Apart from your super wouldnt it be possible to transfer all your assets into a friend or family members name before proceeding with divorce?

Feathers · 09-09-2005, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T_Terror

This is somehting that ive always been curious about.

Apart from your super wouldnt it be possible to transfer all your assets into a friend or family members name before proceeding with divorce?

If your assets were all "owned" by a Proprietary Limited company, and your partner was not listed as a director of the company, then they can only get half of whatever "salary" you make from the company, and not the assets.

Comes in handy if you have investment properties.

T_Terror · 09-09-2005, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feathers

If your assets were all "owned" by a Proprietary Limited company, and your partner was not listed as a director of the company, then they can only get half of whatever "salary" you make from the company, and not the assets.

Comes in handy if you have investment properties.

If you are expecting a divorce is there anything stopping you from transfering any assets directly under you name to elswhere though?

Feathers · 09-09-2005, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T_Terror

If you are expecting a divorce is there anything stopping you from transfering any assets directly under you name to elswhere though?

No. The way to do it though, is to "sell" the assets to family.
Even if it's for $1.
If you never actually receive the money, there isn't much anyone can do. Then you don't have to pay gift tax. Not sure if the taxes on selling the things goes on their actual value or on a percentage of the price if was sold for though.

You can do the same thing if you have a business that looks like going broke.

I will eventually become the only director of the 3 Pty Ltd companies in the family at the moment, so it's all been done for me.

Yummy Mummy · 09-09-2005, 06:52 PM

It is 50% then 10% per child on top of that for whoever has custody. If you have 2 kids then it will a 70/30 split. But you will have to lose your super etc as well.

MO · 09-09-2005, 08:48 PM

There is a time frame to doing the dodge and from from memory its about five years...so if you can do the dodge and stall divorce proceedings for five you might get away with it.

Another way which is also complicated is to go bankrupt...however my best advice is to see a good lawyer pay for the consult and go over all options.

Times and laws have changed since I did the bankrupt routine however it did save my super but I lost a lot of assets.

gtfpv · 10-09-2005, 02:40 PM

thanks for the replies and concern. my wife made a statement that prompted me to post this thread . it got me wondering , and realised that if it came to the crunch . i wouldn't know where to start and had no idea what would be involved .so thanks for the info.

Jamie XR6 · 10-09-2005, 02:54 PM

http://www.fmc.gov.au/pubs/html/interactive.htm

http://www.familycourt.gov.au/

http://www.divorce.gov.au/

Hopefully these sites will be of help. I know I got all I needed from them when I separated from my ex.

T_Terror · 11-09-2005, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtfpv

thanks for the replies and concern. my wife made a statement that prompted me to post this thread . it got me wondering , and realised that if it came to the crunch . i wouldn't know where to start and had no idea what would be involved .so thanks for the info.

Best hope she does come across this thread then..

Jamie XR6 · 11-09-2005, 11:47 AM

I don't realise how lucky I was until I hear some of your stories. My separation was so amicable that we actually sorted everything out the night we decided to split.

I took the Falcon and she took the Laser. I gave her all the furniture except for the computer and a TV.

I paid $288 dollars for the divorce costs. We even agreed to state an earlier separation date on the papers so we could divorce several months earlier than we should have.

The only thing that annoyed me was a couple of months later, I got a text message saying 'Happy Birthday, can I borrow a couple of hundred dollars?' I gave her the money to keep her happy and she has left me alone.

The funny thing was, like gtfpv, I posted asking for divorce information on these forums and received some great advice.

MightyXR6Turbo · 10-09-2005, 03:33 PM

Feathers - Just a small point to add there, if assets are sold (ie Property) to anyone, and you sell them for $1, there is still major taxation implications as in a basic instance, you have to still work on the price between what you bought it for, and what the current market value is (to be assessed by valuer general, etc...). Obviously Capital Gains is a bit more complicated than that, but thats how it works to stop people scooting around having to pay up for it.

347Stroker · 10-09-2005, 03:34 PM

If you want to surf through, and find a site from memory called scaleplus....as in the scales of justice....you could find some interesting articles there, otherwise PM me, I have been there....

MrFlibbles · 10-09-2005, 10:26 PM

my missus took all the house furnishings, sold my ba xr6 on me, and i only just managed to get 50% of the money from the sale of our house. in all honesty i never told her she was entitled to half my super and she never went far enough to find out. thankfully she moved to another state and has crawled back under her rock.
Good Luck!

cogdoc · 11-09-2005, 09:46 AM

Sorry to hear these sorts of situations. Am going through this at the moment, and all I can suggest is do your utmost to keep it civil. I have managed to agree with "her" law advice and provide a fair split, less all the fees, assets etc and just give a payout figure, so long as my super is left alone. It is a tough tough situation, but it does pay financially to bite your ego and try and work out a fair solution if you can. Luckily I don't have a situation that pure hate, so it's workable.

Do YOU want it to work? If so PM me I bought an amazing online book on stopping your divorce and I will say if it suits you to fix it, it does work. I managed to gain a change of heart from the Ex using these ideas, but decided I didn't want to continue this course. Certainly empowered me.

Black XR6 · 11-09-2005, 12:52 PM

gtfpv, my misses works in the financial industry. Basically it is split 50/50 these days. The misses can get acces to your super which gets split and put into a super account for you. Sometimes when you break up with a female partner with kids. The spouse with children can get more than 50/50.

Its a real minefield. And is mediated alot of the time to whats acceptable.

Black XR6 · 11-09-2005, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Apart from your super wouldnt it be possible to transfer all your assets into a friend or family members name before proceeding with divorce?

No transactions are tracked back for 5 years to make sure this sort of thing dosnt happen.

Quote:

If your assets were all "owned" by a Proprietary Limited company, and your partner was not listed as a director of the company, then they can only get half of whatever "salary" you make from the company, and not the assets.

Comes in handy if you have investment properties.

Nice idea but dosnt work. Everything gets split 50/50. If he is the share holder in such company she is entitled to %50 of his share holding in that company, which includes its assets. Investment properties get sold off and split anyhow so its a nice idea but wont work. As a note, it wouldnt be a great idea to have the family home in a company because it opens you up for capital gains tax at a company rate ( I think its %30) when its sold and also you run the risk of the house being sold on you if the company goes bankrupt. Divorce proceedings is like a centrelink investigation. They will investigate 5 years of your financial dealing and if you set up a company within this time and transfer your assets to it it will end up being split in divorce.

Quote:

No. The way to do it though, is to "sell" the assets to family.
Even if it's for $1.
If you never actually receive the money, there isn't much anyone can do. Then you don't have to pay gift tax. Not sure if the taxes on selling the things goes on their actual value or on a percentage of the price if was sold for though.

You can do the same thing if you have a business that looks like going broke.

I will eventually become the only director of the 3 Pty Ltd companies in the family at the moment, so it's all been done for me.

Another plan of attack that sounds great in theory but wont stand up in court. If that worked everyone would just sell things for $1 to family etc and get it back after divorce. In reality it dosnt work.

As for going bankrupt it is anoption but you still lose alot of assets as was said, you do save your super, but you cant be a director of a company for 5 years, you cant loan for 5 years for anything, and alot of banks will never loan to you again. Also, alot of jobs would be closed to you for ever.

The best advice would be dont take advice from a forum past go see a good divorce lawyer and atleast be prepared if it gets ugly. The best you can do is come away with exactly what you are entitled to.

MO · 11-09-2005, 08:27 PM

Or if worst comes to worst and things look like getting really nasty.."cough"hitman"cough"