Protecting Assets During A Continuing De Facto Relationship.
Often when deciding to live with your partner there is little consideration to the rights of each person about money and property. We hope to stay together forever. However for those who have previously paid the financial and emotional costs associated with a divorce or separation, it is understandable that there may be concern about the possibility of another failure.
Issues about dividing property (also known as de facto property settlement) might not concern a younger couple, but many older couples who may have significant assets or children from an earlier relationship, may enter cohabitation a little more cautiously. One might say once bitten twice shy.
While there are no figures on break-ups ofde facto couples(hetero or same-sex), there is no reason to think that figures in those communities will differ with those for married couples. Overall, there's a failure rate of around 48% for all couples, and second relationships have higher failure rates than first ones.
Until recently you could choose to live with your partner and not marry providing benefits for some and disadvantages for others. Changes to theFamily Law Actcame into affect on the 1st March 2009. This allowsde facto couplesto make application to the Family court for orders about dividing property (property settlement)and maintenance for de facto couples.
This means there is no clear difference in the rights of the couple under the law whether they are married or not. The new laws apply to both heterosexual and same sex couples alike.
The good news is, under section 90UC of the Act de facto couples can now make a ?productid=47&categoryid=2" financial agreement that will protect their assets and finances, in the same way married couples have been able to since 2000. By agreeing in writing now, you can quarantine certain assets from litigation during a property settlement, which can have a surprisingly positive effect on how secure one might feel. Particularly if one partner has significant assets and the other does not.
Your financial agreement allows you to decide what you think would be a fair and equitable distribution of property if you separate instead of leaving it up to the courts. You can choose to deal with all of your financial interest now or just deal with a single asset like a family farm, a business or an inheritance.
?productid=47&categoryid=2" De Facto Cohabitation Financial agreements can comfort and reassure people living in or entering a de facto relationship. They are recognisable and enforceable under Part VIIIAB of the Family Law Act and can save you time, money and heartache.
Please see here for information on before cohabitation de facto financial agreements
