Szabo & Associates News & Updates

If a relationship breaks down, the parties involved will need to consider what will happen in respect of the division of any property owned, separately or jointly, by them. This is referred to as property settlement under the Family Law Act. It is an important step in ending the financial relationship between the parties.

After two years of the pandemic, international travel is now once again becoming the norm and families and friends are being reunited across countries. Yet with the opening of borders, family law is seeing a surge in child abduction matters both on an international and domestic scale.

In its simplest form, a property settlement is an agreement made when a married or de facto relationship comes to an end that sets out which party will get what with regard to the assets of the relationship.

In July 2020, the Australian Institute of Family Studies published its report Families Then & Now: Couple relationships. This report outlined some key trends regarding couple relationships in Australia. It pointed out that while the marriage rate has declined, the rate of cohabitation has increased. In 1986 6% of all couples were cohabiting, and this proportion has steadily increased across the census years to 12% in 2001 and to 18% in 2016. These relationships represent a significant and growing sector of the population and an increasing importance in family law.