Family Law Facts

• 109,000 marriages were registered in Australia in 2005. This represents 5.4 marriages for every thousand people in the Australian population. This was a decrease from 7.2 in 1986.

• Over the same period, the divorce rate remained steady at around 2.5 divorces for every thousand people.

• Australians are marrying later. The median age for the first marriage for men has increased from 25.6 years in 1986 to 30 years in 2005, and from 23.5 to 28 for women.

• The proportion of Australians who are married has decreased. In 1986, 60% of the population aged over 15 years were married, compared to 55% in 2001.

• Based on these rates of marriage, 31% of males and 26% of women will never marry.

• The number of people in de facto relationships has almost doubled. 4.3% of the population over 15 were in de facto relationships in 1991, compared to 7.7% in 2006.

• In 2006, the median duration of marriages (without separation) was 8.9 years.

• In 2006, 40% of applicants for divorce were female and 29.5% were male. The balance were joint applications.

• In 2006, 50.1% of divorce applications involved children under 18 years (being a decrease from 59.7% in 1986).

The above information was extracted from a newsletter published by Shepherds The Family Law Specialists.

Non Disclosure of Hidden Assets

Annabel Murray from Atkinson Vinden Heazlewoods responds to the question: "What if my ex had hidden property?" in Law Talk Newsletter, February 2008.

In brief:

• "Parties to a marriage wishing to divide the property of the marriage do so under the Family Law Act, 1975. The Family Law Act empowers the Court to make orders in relation to the property of the parties."
  
• "Both spouses must identify and disclose all of their property."
  
• Property includes both assets and liabilities. "It also includes assets wholly in one spouse's name, even owned before marriage, assets in both names or held under other names, such as companies of which a party has a controlling interest. Property also includes superannuation."
  
• "Parties can reach a property settlement either by an informal arrangement between themselves (which is not recommended), by documenting their property settlement in a binding financial agreement, or by having court orders made (either on terms the parties consented to, called 'consent orders', or by orders made by the judge)."
  
• "If the matter is before the Court, then the Court rules require that both spouses file a sworn document disclosing their assets, liabilities and financial resources. This must be filed before consent orders or court orders can be made."
  
• "If during the course of proceedings, one of the parties draws to the Court's attention that the other has not fully disclosed assets and liabilities then the Court will order that party to file an amended full disclosure. In addition, if the failure to disclose is considered deliberate, the court may add the previously undisclosed assets into the property pool and order that it be divided between the parties."
  
  For further information regarding family law matters, contact Annabel Murray 02 9411 4466
  

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