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How does the court make decisions?

The Courts have very wide powers to divide the property in whatever way they think is fair. No two cases are the same and separating couples should get legal advice from a lawyer who specialises in family property law.

There is no rule that property will be divided 50/50, or that it will be divided according to any fixed proportion. Rather, the Court considers the circumstances of each family and tries to do what is fair. The marriage or de facto relationship is not regarded as a way of equalising the property between the parties, as it might in a 'community property' jurisdiction, and on separation the Court's aim is to leave each party with a fair share having regard to what they put in, and their needs and responsibilities post-relationship, to the extent that the available property permits this.

The Court goes through a four step process when it is making its decision; firstly, identifying and valuing the property between the parties; next, considering the respective contributions of each party towards the property and the welfare of the family; then considering the respective future needs of each party; before finally considering whether the making of orders proposed is just and equitable. These steps are set out in more detail at the beginning of this section under Dividing property.

How does the court make decisions?  :  Last Revised: Thu Jan 24th 2013
The content of the Law Handbook is made available as a public service for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice. See Disclaimer for details. For free and confidential legal advice in South Australia call 1300 366 424.