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DIVORCE has a major financial impact, and it doesn't matter who paid for what when you separate assets.
Everything is considered part of the matrimonial pool: superannuation, your prized golf clubs, even cutlery inherited from your grandmother are up for grabs.
Latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows there are about 47,000 divorces granted each year in Australia, and that doesn't include break-ups among defacto couples. Between a third and a half of all marriages end in divorce.
Getting the divorce itself costs very little. There are divorce kits available free at the courts. They are relatively easy to complete so you may not even need a lawyer.
What is expensive is going to court to resolve parenting and property settlement disputes.
If your split can't be resolved by agreement, don't expect the legal fees to be less than $20,000 each. The average cost is probably about $30,000 to $40,000 each.
Obviously, the best way to keep costs down is to avoid long, drawn-out court battles.
Commercial law firm Kelly & Co partner and family law specialist David Jenkin says hostility between parties results in funds being swallowed up in lengthy and avoidable court action.
"Court action should be viewed as the last resort for parties going through a divorce," he says.
"It can be a very expensive and drawn-out process, particularly if the former partners are bitter. It's not just the financial cost of undertaking court action, but the time and emotional impost on the individuals themselves.
"The more you can take the emotion out of it and negotiate openly and objectively, the better the outcome. Given the personal nature of the issue, that's understandably difficult to do and therefore requires an independent third party to help facilitate mediation," Jenkin says.
Jenkin, who has nearly 30 years' experience as a lawyer and a mediator in divorce matters, says 5-10 per cent of financial settlement claims go to court for final determination.
Identify assets
One of the initial steps is to identify the asset pool and calculate a value for each asset. This involves determining what assets each partner has individually as well as what the couple has collectively. Jenkin says there may be a sense of urgency in securing assets and therefore seeking orders to stop the disposal of a party's assets.
He says the two financial issues most misunderstood by former partners is the treatment of superannuation and business assets.
"The usual rule is that super splitting applies unless a party can convince the court of a need to access funds to retain a property for the benefit of the children," Jenkin says. "When determining the value of business assets it's important to look beyond the balance sheet and this can involve investigating complex ownership structures." Olivia Maragna of Aspire Retire Financial Services in Brisbane says more people are planning their divorce before telling their partner and moving out of the matrimonial home.
"Interestingly, women file for divorce more often than men and are more likely to divorce than die while married," she says.
For older divorcees there is something called a Widow Allowance, which is an allowance you can receive if you divorce later in life. If you are widowed, divorced or separated later in life and have no recent work experience, this provides extra income.
Payment ranges from $456 a fortnight where you have no children to about $500 a fortnight with children. You can only claim Widow Allowance if you were born on or before July 1, 1955 and you must satisfy Centrelink's income and asset tests.
Starting again
AMP financial planner Tony Rigby says rebuilding your life financially after a divorce means going back to basics.
"Put the past behind you and start with a proper defined budget ensuring you are realistic with assumptions on expenses and what your likely income will be."
"A visit and assessment meeting with Centrelink may seem daunting, but there may be entitlements such as childcare benefit, childcare tax rebate and the parenting payment.
Reviewing current debt and restructuring existing and new debt is paramount.
"With interest rate risks and only one income to service debt, it's important to shop around to ensure what you have is what you can afford," he says.
Rigby says the most important thing during any divorce is to get good legal advice from someone experienced in family law, as your property settlement will have a big impact on your financial future. "Also seek advice from a financial planner before the property settlement, not after.
"Most people leave it until it's too late. Your lawyer and financial planner should be drawn into the equation at the same time."
There are many issues to consider such as child support and whether you're entitled to a proportion of your former partner's superannuation. The number of divorces granted in Australia has been decreasing each year since reaching a peak in 2001.
The statistics
National data shows 47,209 divorces were granted in 2008, compared with 47,963 in 2007, a fall of 1.6 per cent.
The median length of marriage to separation was 8.8 years in 2008 but over the past two decades, the median length of marriage to separation and divorce has steadily increased.
For women, the period of life remaining divorced has risen from 18 to 24 years yet for men it is only 17 years. The median age at divorce has been increasing steadily for both men and women during the past 20 years.
In 2008, this trend continued for women with median age increasing by 0.1 years to 41.4, while for men the median age decreased by 0.1 years to 44.1.
The Family Law Court has considerable discretion when determining the respective property entitlements of parties to a marriage or relationship.
This means it is impossible to predict with absolute accuracy what the outcome will be.
In any matter, there will be a range of possible outcomes that will be considered to be just and equitable and one particular judge's view may differ from that of another.
http://www.news.com.au/money/mon ... rfmd9-1225843542671 |
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面对烟火的随想！ (2004-12-10) leeshine 
发表于 2010-2-27 20:00
