NSW Can Property Settlement Occur Without My Input?

[Edited]

I have a question regarding property settlement.

A brief timeline:

• Married in 2008
• Bought a house in 2010 - wife supplied deposit
• Child born in 2011
• Separated in 2012 - wife subsequently asked me to leave the house, as she was looking to sell it at an auction. I asked her how much she was going to sell for it, and she told me she couldn't tell me, as it was under an offer, and it subsequently sold prior to auction.
• September 2012 - received a letter from wife's solicitor regarding property settlement. I replied, saying I didn't accept what was offered, and didn't hear anything else.
• Multiple mediation sessions, both with a free provider, and then a private mediator (at wife's insistence) which has eventually led to me being able to have some quality time with my daughter (at a cost of thousands)
• June 2015 - divorce granted in family court
• November 2015 - sent an email to (now ex) wife to get the ball rolling in regards to property settlement. Got a response back (8 days later) saying the property settlement has already occurred?

My questions are:

• Could she have had a property settlement with no input from me?
• What do I need to do to rectify this situation?

A lot, if not all, of the decisions that have been made, have been forced by her hand, and when I tried to suggest alternatives, they are shrugged off by her. I have plenty of correspondence that can show this.

We're not talking a huge amount of money here, and in any case, I don't have a lot of money to fund a case, but I want to know what is right.

 

[sammy01]

Was your name on the title of the house? If so, then I don't see how she could have sold it without your input.

You have 12 months from time of divorce to finalise assets. So you could make a court application. Is it worth it? Probably not. and in 12 months after divorce it is all done and dusted, so if you have more superannuation than her, maybe doing nothing is not a bad idea....

So lets assume you have $80 000 in combined assets. Look, I don't think it is worth it to worry about the furniture, etc. So cars, superannuation, shares and cash. Now, a short relationship means that as a general rule each person takes out what they put into the relationship. So she had a deposit. She should get that back...but it gets complicated when there are kids.

She is the primary carer of a young child, hence she should get a bigger slice of the pie, so if there is $80 000 then depending on who has what with regard to superannuation, etc., you might find that you might have to pay her....

So if you bought a house in 2010 and separated in 2012, well the value of the house would not have increased. So once you factor in all the costs involved in selling a house, all in all, mate, I really don't think you should worry terribly much, especially given that you've had a fight to see your kid. Might be best not to rock the boat...

That said you could write back to the solicitor to ask for a copy of the property settlement because you have not been provided with one and ask for a full disclosure of funds, but then they will wanna see your assets too. Chances are you'd need a solicitor. (usually around $500/hr). But again, doing that will cause your ex to have to spend money discussing it all with her solicitor. That might sound like a bit of fun, but again, she sounds like the sort of person you don't want to be making grumpy.

In short, I would walk away if it were me.