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Divorce - Asset Protection

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Fluffy

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I am not married lol, I was just thinking into the future...the thought of marriage...mid life crisis...divorce...share port folio + house(s) gone?

Does anyone have advice/information/1st hand experience that they would like to share regarding protecting your assets (property, share portfolio) when a divorce application is filed?

When you are married, you share the combined income and stuff right? or do you keep separate accounts, or is it what you two agree on? So, lets say you agreed on sharing the combine income BUT you would take out say 20-30% of weekly income to increase share portfolio (your own portfolio, not your spouses), wouldn't it create a big mess in the future if there was a divorce?

Cheers,

Fluffy
 
Choose carefully. If you have then you will pass this test: Will you be prepared to split assets and liabilities 50:50. If the answer is yes then marry. If the answer is no then keep looking. Nothing in this world is free any more.
(I have just celebrated a golden wedding aniversary so I don't know a lot about divorce.)
 
avoid joint assets and accounts as much as possible.

it took my parents 5 years in court and many many wasted hours, money and emotions.

keeping assets in seperate names will make the division of them much easier if the worst does happen
 
However unromantic it sounds, discuss the practical realities of a potential split before you even start living together. See a lawyer and get a pre-nuptial agreement done. If you don't do something along these lines, and if things were to go bad in future, you don't have to be married to be forced to split everything 50/50. In my case it meant I lost all I'd contributed and was forced to pay debts I'd not incurred. Just remember, the 50/50 law means you share in the debts as well as the profits.
 

Under SECTION 90C of Family Law Act 1975, you can sign a binding financial agreement with your partner prior to or even after your marriage (as long as your partner is happy to sign, lol). You have to include in the agreement that all your current assets (property, share portfolio etc) will remain yours when you divorce or separate (you have to be separated for one year before you can get divorced). You can also include that future assets earned by your current assets and yourself will remain yours. You can even include your superannuation if you would like. If your lawyer drafted this agreement, your partner will have to get a lawyer to give her independent legal advice regarding this. Just a warning this could be a very long and unpleasant process, so just think carefully why you want to do it in the first place.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and I can not offer you legal advice.
 

Get a prenuptial agreement that says you can't divorce. :

But seriously, you can make a prenup agreement, particularly to decide to pretty much keep what you came into the relationship with in the event that the relationship fails in the short term.

I'm not sure whether Family Law can overturn them in the longer term if the partner decides to contest of the grounds that it is not equitable. Individual contributions and custody of children have more influence in division of property over the longer term.

So, lets say you agreed on sharing the combine income BUT you would take out say 20-30% of weekly income to increase share portfolio (your own portfolio, not your spouses), wouldn't it create a big mess in the future if there was a divorce?
Click to expand...

Superannuation was exempt from Family Law but is now caught in it. Unless you could get something about that in your prenup, your partner would have claim to some of it.

If you have children it gets a bit more untidy. For example, say you married and your partner divorced after say four years and had custody of two children, your property may settle as per your prenup, but the Family Court may order additional payment for drawings like above, plus further payment, usually about 10% extra for the partner with the two children unless you pre register with the Child Support System and start having payments deducted from your income. If the noncustodial parent has no income then the CSA can only collect the minimium, a nominal few dollars a fortnight.

The best advice I can give is choose very carefully and don't be rushed into marriage or a defacto relatioship. My upbringing frowned upon living together before marriage, but in hindsight I think it may not be such a bad thing, especially if you have assetts and money in the bank and your partner is a lot of fun, but has practically no assetts and is in a hurry to get married... a gold digger.
 
I suppose a Family Trust might be useful to buy your investment property/shares.

and put yourself as the Trustee, while the beneficiaries are yourself and your wife. that way no one else has control nor access to the assets except yourself.

so as you live life, you/spouse get income from the assets, but only you have control over the capital.

get more info from a Tax Lawyer on a Trust if you're interested..I'm only skimming the iceberg.
 

Yes, that is a good way to protect and distribute your wealth. I have a company as trustee to a discretionary trust.

But trusts, companies etc all come under the umbrella of the Family Court. So in the event of a property settlement, because you can get a property settlement without being divorced, all the trust and company assets are pooled and devided, except maybe for what may be in a prenup.
 

Fluffy, don't get married.

You have the wrong mindset, marriage is a unity and sharing far beyond the way you are thinking.

Met her when 15, followed her until she was with me, now married 31yrs and still going strong (stronger). Only ever one bank account and I would give all I have for another 31+ with her. That is the mindset you need for marriage, otherwise all you have is a relationship easily broken without true commitment.

Not a populist thought, simplistic I know, but it is mine.
 
I'm assuming your a Guy

Unfortunately the reality is that best thing u can do is have a hidden share portfolio...get your self a PO box and an email addy thats 100% private.

When the almost inevitable happens lest u are not totaled.
 
not everyone has a dream relationship like you or a sharetrading gift like warren buffet
 
So_Cynical said:
almost inevitable happens
Click to expand...

I would not call the statistic of one third of marriages ending, as being 'almost inevitable'.

While one third is still a high statistic, the odds are more in favour that your marriage will last until atleast one of you kicks the bucket.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/24/1066974320459.html

Also check the ABS stats.

I heard some interesting advice from someone that runs courses for married couples, he reckons a great exercise for a loving relationship is for couples to get naked and cuddle with each other for atleast 10 mins regularly every week, if sex happens ... hey that is a bonus ... apparently couples have reported back to him that they are happier for carrying out the exercises. Guess this could be considered some of the 'work' required for having a long sustaining relationship.
 
Disregard all the advice people are posting here .... you live in Australia - so when you get married and thereafter divorced - you're head is in the Family Court noose my friend there are NO guarantees whatsoever. Forget about what the so called rights and wrongs of what to do and what not to do are... the mere fact that there are people walking the street lighter in the hip pocket after divorce is enough to tell you what you can expect ..... best way to protect your assets?? - stay single !!!
 

That's not quite true, a BFA is binding, you just had to make sure that you get a good lawyer and cover all future possibilities such as having children etc (there's a long list). The terms almost sound cruel but it can be done. I have quite a bit of asset placed under my name by other people and I had to do a BFA to make them happy. I was assured by my lawyers that their arses are covered if I divorce in future. Honestly I am not even sure staying single would save you from this, from my understanding if you live together for more than 6 month then your partner is your de-facto spouse. One of my friend even managed to get his de-facto partner permanent residency without having to get married. You might really want to check that out to be sure.
 
goanbros said:
..... best way to protect your assets?? - stay single !!!
Click to expand...

Well, you are right to a point, but there is no doubt that if you are fortunate enough to have a good committed relationship, longer term it can yield far more cumulatively than the sum of two singles working alone.
 


Agree.
Good one there.

and i thought you were like all the other materialistic and greedy people who invest in the Hang Seng!
 
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