You will need to divide your relationship property when you separate or divorce.
There are 3 ways to divide your relationship property:
You can agree between yourselves how to share your property and the court doesn’t have to be involved. If you want to be able to enforce the agreement through the court, your agreement must be in writing and both of you must have had independent legal advice.
If you have children, you can use Family Dispute Resolution mediation to talk about dividing relationship property but only if it helps you agree about how you’ll care for your children. Write down what you’ve agreed. Make sure both of you have had independent legal advice.
The Family Court can become involved if you can’t agree or if your agreement is unfair or doesn’t work. The court will identify the relationship property, value it and decide how it will be divided between you and your ex-partner. The court will put this in a Relationship Property Order.
The information in this section is mainly for people who can’t agree and are going through the Family Court.
Relationships covered by law
The Family Court can make orders dividing relationship property when you’re married or in a civil union or in some cases a de facto relationship.