TAS Am I Entitled to Part of House in Property Settlement?

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6 July 2016
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Hi,

My husband's family gifted us a house during our 14-year marriage. Am I entitled to 50/50 of the house in property settlement? Both our names are on the deed.

Could he take it 75/25 as a judge would look at contributions or where the money came from initially? Initially they bought a house for us, we then sold it, got the money from that sale and built the house we are in now. I thought everything he owns I also own, is this correct?

Help, please
 

Spark83

Member
14 July 2016
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I would suggest you are as you were both gifted the house, both your names on deeds and long relationship.

Other things that would help include :

- have you both paid the mortgage repayments equally?
- both paid bills / tax / strata / water / council etc equally
- paid equal share of repairs / kitchen renos etc

To be homes with such a long relationship, your contributions are less at stake here. Have you spoken to a solicitor about this?
 

AllForHer

Well-Known Member
23 July 2014
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It's not as simple as being 'entitled to 50/50'. It depends on your respective contributions and circumstances. The Court asks four questions to determine a property settlement:

1. What's the total value of the shared asset pool?
2. What were the financial and non-financial contributions of each party?
3. What are the future needs of each party?
4. Is the settlement just and equitable?

Thus, your 'entitlement' could be more or less depending on the specifics of your case.

In short, yes, the Court will take into consideration where the money originated from, but nobody here can provide an indication as to how influential it would be on how much of the assets you are entitled to. It depends on various other circumstances.