In family law property proceedings, HECS debts are treated as either a joint liability (included in the property pool) or a personal liability (excluded from the property pool), depending on the circumstances.Factors the Court considers when determining whether or not a HECS debt should be included or excluded from the property pool. Read more...

In Jabour & Jabour (2019) FLC 93-898 the Full Court considered property orders where towards the end of a marriage, a block of land suddenly and significantly increased in value, in circumstances where that block of land was part of the husband’s initial contributions. Read more...

That it is open to a Judge in certain circumstances to make an order in the event one party unilaterally pays their legal fees before a final determination, even if from post separation income, that an amount be paid by way of property settlement to the other party first out of the net assets at Trial before the balance of the net asset pool is divided between the parties.  Read more...

Lottery Win - Wife loses appeal to seek more than 10% of the asset pool when the Husband received a significant lottery win, one year into a nine year relationship. Read more...

A common question that arises for practitioners when advising and negotiating on property settlements is in what circumstances should a party receive other assets (and to what degree) in lieu of a superannuation split in a property settlement. This paper reviews some Full Court cases and what is seen to be one of the leading cases on this question, Moore J’s decision in Levick and Levick (2006) FLC 93-255.