Experienced Adelaide Family Lawyers for Complex Property Matters
When a relationship ends and your financial situation involves companies, trusts, farms, businesses, overseas assets or blended family structures, you need a legal team experienced in complex family property settlements.
At Pace Adelaide Legal, our family lawyers specialise in resolving high-value, multi-layered property matters with clarity, accuracy and strategic planning.
We offer a free 30-minute consultation to help you understand your options early — before financial, taxation or disclosure issues impact your settlement.
30 minute Free Consultation
Contact an Pace Adelaide Legal “Complex Property Settlement” Expert today.
What is Adelaide Legal likely to be dealing with in this kind of property settlement?
Establishing Exactly Who Owns An Asset or Assets
Before you can proceed you need to know who owns each asset of the relationship and at times across the family.
It is sometimes not as straightforward as it at first seems to establish ownership, particularly when dealing with companies and family businesses.
Disclosure
The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia expects that you and partner will comply with the rules of disclosure, even if you and your partner agree to how your assets will be divided. To fully understand the nature and ownership of you and your partner’s assets, disclosure of documents pertaining to all assets is necessary.
Businesses
Businesses are often set up using companies, trading names and family trusts, to protect assets and split income.
This can be complicated further if you have a blended family.
The ownership of an asset can have a serious impact on a settlement dispute, particularly if parents and or siblings of one of the parties are involved.
Under these circumstances, obtaining the correct information and supporting documentation is very important in understanding who actually owns an asset.
To understand what the outcome is likely to be in your particular case, these issues have to be understood completely. Each settlement, including yours, is unique. Therefore, having the correct information is crucially important.
Farms & Grazing Properties
Valuing farm or grazing property which is an ongoing concern can be particularly complex.
There are several methodologies used, which include:
- Direct Comparison Approach
- Summation Approach
- Productivity Approach
- Discounted Cash Flow Approach
The value of these properties can vary greatly from year to year and there are multiple factors that influence any valuation.
Again, getting early advice is key.
The appropriate documents need to be obtained and a comprehensive evaluation of the business, including land, capital equipment and property holdings, along with past performance and future projections needs to be done.
Financial Holdings
Where you or your partner have received large amounts of cash, things are further complicated.
The amounts involved; how they were received; when they were received; and how they were applied are all considerations which will likely have an impact on the overall property settlement.
These financial assets include things such as:
- Inheritances
- Lump Sum Payouts
- Superannuation
- Shares & Share Options
- Gifts
Complex Asset Pools
In addition to business holdings, cash and other financial assets there are other holdings that will make up the total asset pool of each individual.
These items include:
Real Estate – both residential and commercial.
Commercial real estate can itself be very complicated as a valuation needs to consider multiple factors including the condition of a property, rents, rates, and utility costs and who actually owns the property.
Overseas property
Overseas property will also make up part of the overall assets of the property settlement.
Trust property
If you control or receive dividends from a Trust.
Get Property Settlement Advice Early
As soon as you are separated or contemplating separation, if you have complex financial holdings such as business holdings, trusts and overseas property, it is important that you seek advice as soon as possible.
A delay could adversely affect the outcome for you in your property settlement.
30 minute Free Consultation
Contact an Adelaide Legal “Complex Property Settlement” Expert today.
Why choose Pace Adelaide Legal?
Pace Adelaide Legal’s property settlement lawyers have many years experience dealing with complex property settlement matters.
So if you want the right advice and a comprehensive service, out family lawyers are ready to help.
“Thank you to Adelaide Legal for lodging an urgent Divorce Application for me; I am very happy with the professional, friendly and timely service I was provided with. They also gave me other relevant advice as required, including how a Divorce Order affects a property settlement, and I would recommend them for a family law matter.”
Adrian, Semaphore
“Whilst going through a complicated family law property settlement the team at Adelaide Legal were supportive, transparent and made the process as straightforward as they possibly could. I would highly recommend them.”
Mark, Little Hampton
Frequently Asked Questions About Complex Property Settlements
Tax can significantly affect the overall outcome of a complex property settlement. Capital gains tax and other liabilities may arise when investment properties, businesses or other assets are sold or transferred. You should obtain specific taxation advice so that any expected tax can be properly treated as a liability when working out the property pool.
Business interests are treated as property under the Family Law Act and are usually included in the asset pool. If there is a dispute about value, a specialist valuation is often required. How a business is structured, such as a sole trader, partnership, company or family trust, will influence how it is assessed and how any orders are drafted.
In most cases business liabilities such as loans, overdrafts and personal guarantees are included as part of the overall property settlement. Proper disclosure, accounting records and legal advice are needed to identify which debts should be taken into account and how they affect the net property pool.
Often one spouse wishes to retain the business and continue trading, particularly where they have built the goodwill and expertise. Settlement orders can be prepared so that one party keeps the business and the other receives an agreed sum or different assets. If neither party wants to retain the business, it may be sold and the proceeds divided in an agreed or court ordered proportion.
Complex matters can sometimes be resolved without going through a contested court hearing by using mediation, negotiation and properly drafted Consent Orders or a Financial Agreement. These processes allow the parties to work through disclosure, valuations and settlement options in a confidential environment and can be quicker, more cost effective and less stressful than full litigation.
Overseas assets are generally still relevant to an Australian family law property settlement. The court expects full and frank disclosure of all property, including assets held offshore, and can make orders that take those assets into account. If there are concerns that overseas property has been concealed, subpoenas and forensic accounting may be needed.
Property settlements become more complex when there are businesses, trusts, farms, large inheritances, lump sum payouts, extensive disclosure documents and valuation issues. The volume of information and the need for specialist input from accountants, valuers and lawyers can make these matters more involved, which is why early, experienced legal advice is important.
Jessica Sinclair
Chief Counsel/Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner