“Can my girlfriend take half my house in Australia?”
This is a line that men commonly ask themselves when their relationshiop goes south with their partner. Because, naturally, when a de facto partner marries, their assets and finances become one with their significant other. This includes bank accounts, cars, and yes, even their house.
Some relationships work out for the best, but not all of them does. So, a person may think or panic if their de facto partner can take half their house or what’s inside of it. Australia has family laws that govern such matters, and depending on your circumstances, not all partners can take half of your house or half the family home.
Therefore, the answer to the question ‘Can my girlfriend take half my house in Australia?’ will ultimately depend on specific circumstances. There will be instances where a partner can get half or even more of a property.
So, how can we prevent this? Let’s find out below.
Were There Financial Agreements in Place?
There are two types of binding financial arrangements that couples can enter into which are pre-nuptial agreements and post-nuptial agreements. There are three main types of these agreements.
If parties signed a binding financial agreement prior to a marriage separation, then this is a pre-nuptial agreement. On the other hand, a postnuptial agreement can come into effect after a separation or divorce. The final type of binding financial agreement is a cohabitation agreement which is tailored for de facto couples.
So, if you think about it, there’s less tension that can happen during a breakup if couples entered into a pre-nup. But, when is it ever easy to talk about who owns what, right? That’s why a lot of couples forget this agreement and just agree to settle things during property settlement.
Can My Girlfriend Take Half My House Australia: The Family Law Act
Now, what does the law say about asset division during such a phase? According to the Section 79 of the Act, there are a couple of things that courts consider when making a property settlement order.
One defining factor of such considerations are the contributions of each party.
Contributions can either be financial or non-financial. Financial support includes monetary contributions that parties make to a relationship. For example, income and wages, superannuation, investment interests and other financial resources fall under financial contributions.
On the other hand, significant non-financial contributions include if one party decides to forgo their career or education to look after the children in the relationship. Therefore, when deciding property settlement, courts take into consideration both these types of contributions.
If you want to connect with people who ask about binding financial agreements for de facto couples, you can check out this Reddit forum here.
Was There a de Facto Relationship?
As mentioned above, the first step before you can commence property settlement proceedings is to establish whether a de facto relationship between you and your partner existed. You can’t just enter into financial agreements and claim you were “in a relationship” with a person. So, one of the answers to the question “Can my girlfriend take half my house in Australia?”, is if there was a de facto relationship that existed
To do so, the court looks at various criteria, including:
- The duration of the relationship. De facto relationships are only valid if the couple has been living together for at least two years or there is a child in the relationship. Child care will also be considered.
- If one partner is financially dependent on the other or if there’s interdependence.
- Whether there was a sexual relationship between the two parties
- Whether the parties registered the relationship in a state or territory
- The future needs of each party
De facto relationships involve two people living with each other on a genuine domestic basis. Once you have established that you were indeed in a de facto arrangement, you will have more options to finalise asset division.
Why Is It Important To Establish a De Facto Relationship?
This is because there is no question of property settlement if you are unable to demonstrate that you and your former partner were in a de facto relationship. Parties cannot make a claim to each other’s property if they were never in a de facto relationship.
Once you have established that such a relationship existed, you have to assess contributions made by each party. Additionally, there are two methods to go about division of property.
If two parties agree on matters, they can make mutual arrangements for division of property. If they do not agree, they have to make an application for the family court to make binding property settlement orders.
Can My Girlfriend Take Half My House in Australia: Example Scenario
You may have realised now that there is no straightforward answer to the question ‘Can my girlfriend take half my house Australia?’ Rather, it depends on a number of factors, and so for each individual circumstance, the outcome may vary. In this section, we explore an example scenario to understand one type of outcome.
Let’s consider an example where Gina and Kyle have recently separated from each other. They had registered their de facto relationship on the NSW website.
Kyle had a house before he entered into a relationship with Gina. The two of them eventually moved into Kyle’s house and lived there together for 2 years. During the time that they lived together, Kyle made additional mortgage payments.
Gina also contributes to mortgage payments, but her payments are slightly lower than Kyle’s. At the time of separation, depending on the monetary contributions that Gina has made, she can be entitled to receive that percentage of the property.
For example, if Gina made 40% of mortgage payments when Kyle and Gina lived together, she can receive at least 40% of the value of the property at the time of separation.
Moreover, courts can also consider some other financial and non-financial contributions that Gina made. Therefore, depending on these kinds of factors, the answer to the question ‘Can my girlfriend take half my house in Australia’ differs. However, an automatic 50/50 split rarely ever occurs in Australian family law.
So, I Should Just Contribute More to Our House, Right?
Technically, this is the easiest decision in order to secure a bigger share of your and your ex’s property. If you do care about the property that you and your spouse live in, you will go to great lengths for its upkeep. Unfortunately, some marriages prove how some partners only care about themselves and not the property’s upkeep and functions.
If a partner can show that their contributions to the joint asset pool equal 50% of the value of the house, they are entitled to half of the house.
As mentioned, contribution can either be financial or non-financial. So, there may be relationships where one partner pays for the property’s upkeep aand renovations, while the other maintains it. Another setup may include both partners doing it at the same time. At the time, it really depends on the relationship setup and each partner’s contributions.
Courts won’t give consideration to parties who don’t care about contributing to a property. So, it’s better for the property (or most of it) to go to those who made significant contributions to it.
Are You Afraid That You Might Lose Your House to Your Ex?
If yes, then you might want to reassess your contributions or any agreements you entered before or after separation. It’s difficult enough that you are going through one of the toughest family law cases, which is divorce and property settlement. You never know when your ex will want to claim half or more than half of your house after separation.
So, let us at JB Solicitors handle your case. Our leading team of solicitors can help you with any disputes you have with your ex over property and parenting arrangements. We can also help parties draft a binding financial agreement that outline how assets should be divided between two parties in the event of a divorce or separation.
Indeed, we our confident with our experience at the court can help defend your property settlement rights. However, not all divorce cases need not court interference. We can also help disputed couples reach an out-of-court agreement with our mediation services! This is a fairly cheaper option for ex-couples who are willing to reach an amicable agreement about their family law disputes.
If you have an enquiry, do not hesitate to contact our team of leading lawyers today. Speak to our family lawyers today.
We hope that you understood the implications of binding financial agreements and how it can secure your assets whether married or not. If you want more information about other legal matters, click on this link.
