Dividing the Asset Pie in Complex Family Law Property Settlements – Recorded Online Conference

You can put your staff in the boardroom and watch it there. You can watch it on your computer or on your portable electronic device. All for the same low price.

The conference will be based on our highly successful video webinar technology: there’ll be a chairperson, a panel of experts, presentations and discussion.

Session 1: Setting Aside a Financial Agreement – When the Gloves are Off

Your client wants a financial agreement set aside. What is the best course of attack? And what are the consequences of setting aside the agreement? Understanding the residual rights and obligations that arise if a financial agreement is set aside is key in giving proper advice to your clients. This session covers:

• What do current case law developments say on setting aside financial agreements? Understanding the common grounds of attack
• Setting aside financial agreements under the ordinary laws of contract following Thorne v Kennedy – undue influence, misrepresentation and fraud
• Impacts on enforceability - third party interests
• Can the arrival of children be a ground to set aside?
• Domestic violence – a future ground for attack?
• Damages, financial agreements and lawyers’ liability - use of court’s accrued jurisdiction to have a damages claim against the lawyer heard at same time as the hearing in relation to financial agreements
• Rights of creditors versus trustees in bankruptcy to set aside financial agreements

Session 2: Accounting for All the Pieces – Financial Resources and Property Settlements

The Courts will look at parties’ financial resources as a factor in property settlements. Financial resource has a broad meaning. This practical session will look at some of the more challenging issues involving financial resources and includes:

• What is a financial resource – understanding which items make it onto the balance sheet
• Section 75(2) of the Family Law Act and future financial benefit:
  • a future pension entitlement
  • future inheritance
  • moral obligations and wishes
  • long service leave
  • tax losses
  • overseas superannuation
• Spousal maintenance and financial resources
• Case law update

Session 3: Property of the Parties or a Financial Resource? Accounting for a Discretionary Trust

The outcome of a family property matter can vary considerably depending on whether trust property is found to be part of the pool or a financial resource. But how do you determine when a trust is in or out of the pool? The cases are confusing. This session helps you understand the impact of trusts on property matters in the family law jurisdiction:

• The interest of a discretionary object defined
• Is the interest of a discretionary object property for the purposes of the FLA?
• Can family trust property be property of the parties?
• Can the interest of a discretionary object be a financial resource?
• A review of the cases: property of the parties or financial resource?
• Different trust situations – do they lead to different results?
  • family trust the alter ego of the parties
  • testamentary trusts – parents of the parties
  • inter vivos trusts for more than one family
  • assets of companies owned by discretionary trusts