Family Law Blog

In recent years, the Family Court has ruled that when dividing property in a dispute, using a percentage rather than a fixed sum allows for a more accurate and fair division. However, recent cases have found that where the Family Court is often dependant on uncertain figures, a more complicated formula is needed to allow for changes in the value of assets.

A client recently said to me, "My partner was an abusive, lying, cheating *&@#! Shouldn't I get more money from our property settlement for everything x has put me through???" I truly felt for my client after everything she had been through, but unfortunately the answer is generally “no.”

A recent Family Court decision has highlighted the hard, and sometimes unusual, decisions a Court has to take. In the July 2012 case, a man was given 14 days to recover his parents' ashes from a memorial garden he had created on his family farm. The ashes were buried in two large urns, with commemorative headstones marking their location, next to a bronze bust of the man's father who had died first. Unfortunately, the farm had been awarded to his former wife in a property settlement and he was therefore required to find another 'resting place' for his parents. Describing the decision as a 'kick in the guts' the man was not only upset about having to move the headstones and urns, but also the fact that the farm had been his parents home when they were alive. This decision seems very harsh. How could this happen, I hear you ask?