QLD Consent Orders Signed Without Witness or Legal Advice?

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suzyq

Member
24 July 2014
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Hi all,

My husband and his ex-wife divorced over 10 years ago. I know this is far too long ago to change anything, but just wondering about the legalities of things.

His ex fooled around and left him in the home with the 2 children of the marriage so he asked for a divorce. She was not too happy about this, so she came home and kicked him out. Just after the divorce, she decided that they should do the property settlement by consent orders and not involve solicitors.

He had a property prior to meeting and marrying her. They lived there for a short time before selling that property and using the small proceeds as the deposit on another home. He also had a vehicle and earned more than her; she brought no car or assets to the marriage; which lasted about 5 years.

She had him sign a paper containing one small paragraph and told him its purpose was to take his name off the mortgage. He signed and dated this paper. This woman has been causing us grief for many years and he applied to the family court recently to see what the consent orders stated.

The "Minutes of the Consent order" just stated that he transfers all this rights and titles to the property of the marriage and agree that his name is to be removed from the mortgage. I know, very dumb of him not to read or fully understand what he was signing. But he doesn't think the entire clause was on that piece of paper at the time of signing.

She submitted this "Minutes of the Consent order" with Attachment A. That is all, no application or other paperwork.

My question is, as these consent orders were signed but not witnessed, no legal advice was sought or given, and it resulted in an actual property settlement of $0. My hubby walked out of that marriage with nothing but his personal affects; she got the car, the house and all contents. How could these orders be considered fair & equitable?

If the tables were turned and he was giving the wife $0 I am sure the orders would not have been sealed.

Sorry for the long post.
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
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Are the orders stamped by the court? If not, then they are meaningless...

Now this might be a big win for him. Who paid the mortgage after he left? Presumably her? Is the thing paid off? I'm thinking not.

So this is no longer family law - it is property law. In property law, if his name is still on the title / along with hers, then he owns half the property and she can't sell it without his consent... I'd contact her and tell her it is time to sell the property and split the funds 50/50 - then smile.
 

MartyK

Well-Known Member
4 June 2016
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What is the real reason beind wanting to aggravate this again some 10 years after the fact?

You said there was only a small amount of equity in the house? What kind of equity are we talking about here?

Regardless, even if the father might have been entitled to some of this equity, during those 5 years, they had 2 children together (staying home and caring for children is considered a contribution by law), so an adjustment would likely have been made anyway.

Oh and here in Australia we have no fault divorce.
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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It can be revisited if there is evidence of some kind of fraud that has occurred.
 

MartyK

Well-Known Member
4 June 2016
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It can be revisited if there is evidence of some kind of fraud that has occurred.

Correct, but this does not mean that a Court will make any determination for the mother to repay any sums of money. In fact, litigation could be more expensive than it's worth.
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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Agreed. The court will look at all the facts before deciding on the most appropriate remedy.