De Facto Help!!

Hi everyone,
I’m hoping someone can provide some guidance on this.
I’m currently renting with my girlfriend.
We’ve lived under the same roof since Feb 2016.
I currently own 3 properties under my name and 1 under a trust.
Cash Savings is in my name + some shares…also some cash in the trust account.

I want to know firstly when is the time frame when someone can claim de facto relationship? (I’m under the impression its 2 years?!).
Also IF things got sour and we’d been living together long enough for her to claim de facto, what is she entitled to?
From what I’ve researched so far, I believe she can get half all personal assets in my name?
She has never financially contributed to any properties I’ve bought.
Yes we share rent, food, internet etc but that’s it!

Also, can she get her hands on the family trust and anything in it?

Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

It's been discussed prior, would need to search to find the link.

I'm in similar position and my interpretation is that 6months living together for defacto.
Could be entitled to assets accumulated after the 6months
And after 2 years could be entitled to prior assets.

She lives in my property, but only pays for joint expenses such as internet, food, utility usage (not supply or rates).
I pay for all the maintenance/upkeep, insurances etc

We don't have joint accounts.
All my assets were purchased prior to us living together.

 

I recommend you go to a family lawyer and get a binding financial arrangement in place. It is not romantic but it is good.

Alternatively consider drafting a moral undertaking where you can both outline what you think is fair and reasonable. It is not worth anything but it can help you confirm a what is a fair split later on down the track before the financial settlement became nasty.

 

Geez.. what have you done? Start with flowers.

6-months living together = defacto

Potentially, she could get up to half of the sum total of assets controlled by you + those controlled by her. That includes the your trust and your super. (unless the trust isn't controlled by you).

Mortgages are good for asset protection.. max them out, take the cash and bury it somewhere Get your parents to "loan" you the difference between the maxed out mortgage and the valuation of the property, secured by the property (all on paper).. then claim that you blew it at the races..... (not advice).

 

Here is a link to the definition in the Family Law Act
FAMILY LAW ACT 1975 - SECT 4AA De facto relationships

As you can see it is pretty broad.

I thought there was a 2 year limit on property settlements (or no limit if there was a child), but I cannot find the section now.

For property settlements in general see s79
FAMILY LAW ACT 1975 - SECT 79 Alteration of property interests

Trust interests can be 'attacked' in 2 broad ways:
a) as property of the relationship, or
b) as a financial resource of one of the members of the relationship.

ps. I am not a family lawyer, so treat this with scepticism.

 

Also forgot to mention in my post - kids change everything.

 

1. Normally it requires 2 years of de facto for the family court property jurisdiction to kick in, but there are some exceptions.

2. No idea what she might be entitled to, it really depends on the circumstances of the case. Not necessarily a whole lot in a short relationship as a general guide (although this can vary greatly too).

3. "Half personal assets" is an urban myth. See answer 2 above.

4. Financial contributions are only half the story. Non financial contributions are generally just as important and given equal weighting in most relationships.

5. Trust assets could be dealt with or factored in as Terry mentioned.

6. Main tip is to get family law advice if you're actually concerned. Funnily enough, nearly no one does despite being so worried. Shrug.

- from a family lawyer.

 

I've seen most of the others before, but haven't heard too much about the non-financial contributions. Are you able to share a bit more of this from your experience?

Are you talking about say support in making decisions... cleaning the house...???

 

A common position is that during a relationship, non-financial contributions will equal the financial ones. So the relationship is treated essentially as a partnership for the period of it. So things like cleaning the house, shopping and other domestic duties etc.

Doesn't always apply for every relationship, but often it does.

That's why that the longer a relationship goes on for, the more that pre-relationship assets and contributions are 'diluted' by the equal contributions during the relationship.

 

So, if one is gonna get out, the earlier the better.

I wish someone told me that 37 years ago .

Probably too late now.

 

Heh, I get that your comment is tongue in cheek, but the counter argument is that most relationships genuinely are a partnership and the bread-winning partner would not be able to make the money that they had without support from their partner.

Especially if we're talking about raising kids at the same time.

 

Yeah, my post was tongue in cheek.

I meet my now-wife in August 1977 (nearly 40 years ago).

We brought totally different assets into the relationship. I bought a logical mind, financial assets, ...; she brought love, emotion, feelings, ...

In a lot of ways, we were totally different (as described above) but we also had a lot of things in common (a belief that success is earned through hard work, one commits forever, etc).

Over the 40 years, I have become a more loving, emotional, feelie type person and she has become more logical, financially aware, ...

Never once have I (and to the best of my knowledge has she) ever thought about how we could/would split our pre-relationship and relationship assets.

While one may be able to put a price on what I brought into the relationship, what she brought into it is priceless.

May be I am a lucky fella.

 

Maybe nobody brings point 6 to you because of your avatar.

 

Haha good! I don't actually like practising in family law and I don't take private clients either.

I want people to get legal advice - but just from someone else!

 

I suspect that is not actually all you share. As Dazz from somersoft used to say, to avoid possible losses like this if a relationship breaks down, "keep your jiggly bits away from her jiggly bits". Advice that is probably too late now in any event.

 

Ha Thanks mate. Trust me, I haven't done anything. just covering bases in case

 

Thanks for Laying it out @thatbum. Shes very level headed and i dont suspect anything will happen if things got ugly, but you just never know. Food for thought and i'll engage a family lawyer. Cheers mate

 

Thanks for the response.

At home I also try to make equal non-financial contributions, she cleans > I cook, she cleans inside > I do garden.
I consider these would be similar setup if you were living with house mate etc?

I try to look at it from both sides, I contribution 100% financially to what I consider to be my assets.
Anything that is shared would be the same if it was my partner or a housemate.

In your experience how does that look?

 

This thread is sending shivers down my spine.

I need to change my name again.

 

You can protect yourself, slightly, but keeping the spouse from contributing to your properties - in financial or non-financial ways. Don't let them work on it, help you with calling agents, meeting tradesment there etc. The less involvement they have the better.

Also keep your finances totally separate. No joint loans.

Help the spouse build up their own assets too. This will help them not be needy when the time comes as they can support themselves. But take every opportunity to paint their properties, do work in the gardens and take picturs to prove it - post it on facebook too "Just helping X in the garden" sort of thing.

Keep assets hidden or don't tell them - less jealously later perhaps.

There have been a few cases recently where long relationships resulted in no readjustments to ownership.