Relationship Breakdown and Family Law: What's Yours, Mine and Ours - a lunchtime recorded online conference

Duration: Approximately 2.5 Hours

Hear from the experts at this online conference. You can watch it on your computer or on your portable electronic device from anywhere.

The conference will be based on our highly successful video webinar technology: there'll be a chairperson and presentations.

One registration can be shared by colleagues within the same firm utilising the same login.

THE PROGRAM

Session 1: Making Dollars and Sense out of Spousal Maintenance

The recent case of Blevins has struck fear in the hearts of many clients, and highlights a party’s ability to bring a further application for spousal maintenance some 20 years after separation. This session examines in the ins and outs of spousal maintenance, lessons from recent cases, and what practitioners should be doing now to help provide certainty to clients. It covers:

• Types of spousal maintenance agreements – interim, urgent or part of the settlement
• When is a party entitled to spousal maintenance?
• Adjusting for disparities between income or earning capacities of the parties
• Final spousal maintenance orders – are they ever truly final?
• Is it possible to have a third bite of the cherry on spousal maintenance matters?
• Out of time applications for spousal maintenance
• Case update, including Blevins v Blevins [2019] FCCA 1923

Session 2: De Facto Relationships: Not as Clear Cut as You Think

Whilst there are four gateway criteria for assessing whether a de facto relationship exists, there are still ambiguities in the law. This session brings you up to date on the recent cases regarding de facto relationships, including:

• Current status of the law in finding existence of de facto relationship
• What do you need to prove the existence of de facto relationship?
• The importance of living arrangements
• Impact of COVID-19 on proving de facto relationships
• The importance of documentary evidence in assessing de facto relationships
• Risk factors and degrees of separation – what to look for
• Proving the start and end of de facto relationships
• Case studies – Finding a de facto relationship where you least expect it

Session 3: Drafting Binding Financial Agreements that Withstand the Test of Time

The Family Law Act 1975 allows couples to enter into financial agreements before, during and following the end of their marriage or de facto relationship concerning division of assets in the event of a separation. However, there is always a potential risk that the financial agreement may be set aside, including where it has failed to meet the legislative requirements or its terms are ambiguous or incomplete. This session provides a practical guide to drafting agreements that are able to withstand both the challenges of a relationship breakdown and the legal scrutiny of the courts, including:

• Reviewing the legislative requirements for making a financial agreement
• Drafting appropriate letters of advice
• The importance of complete financial disclosure from your client
• Structuring the financial agreement and drafting in clear, unambiguous terms
• What’s in and what’s out: determining content – property, financial issues, liabilities, proposed division, spousal maintenance claims, children, and pets
• Incorporating additional complexities: family trusts, family businesses and investments, blended families, taxation implications and superannuation funds
• Recent cases on financial agreement interpretation, including Warrick v Mia [2018] FamCA 426