The Financial Issues of Divorce

There is no automatic entitlement under law and in the event of a decision made by the Family Law Court there may be greater or lesser percentages allocated. Each individual family circumstances are unique to that family and consideration will be given by the Court to not only the assets but also the liabilities that the family unit may have accumulated. In addition, potential future income as well as the needs of minor children will have a bearing. Issues such as pension funds could also be allocated differently with values accumulated before the marriage possibly being ruled out of any calculation of assets that could be split.

This is a tricky one, if such a situation might exist. As part of the Divorce process both spouses are required to make a full disclosure of their financial position. If one party decides to deliberately make a false return for the purposes or understating their assets, then unless other paper trails identify a possible asset there is a possibility that they may prevail with their dishonesty.

That being said, it is rare that something can remain hidden forever. An investment has to be funded from some source and it may also generate an income stream, both of which may be traceable from old bank statements rather than those of recent years. Property ownership, even if undisclosed, may also incur maintenance charges and property taxes. Indeed, an examination of past tax returns may show taxes other than income tax and this might throw up an avenue of investigation.

An application for divorce can be initiated by either party if the couple have been separated for four years. Once started the period to finalisation will vary depending on the family circumstances and how reasonable negotiations between both sides might be. The more discord between the parties the more the likelihood that the period to a resolution will extend outwards.

An additional factor is the location of the residence of the family. Some Family Law Courts based outside of the major cities do not have as much capacity as those in the major urban areas. As such, such divorces can take several months longer, if not a year or two extra, to be adjudicated on.