VIC Is Friend Entitled to Property Settlement After Short Relationship?

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Corinne

Well-Known Member
31 October 2015
117
5
389
Hi,

I'm posting on behalf of a friend to try to get a general idea about where he stands legally.

He started dating a woman at the start of 2014. He was living in QLD and working full time, she lived in her own home in VIC, working part time. She would fly to visit him and vice versa. After 6 months she fell pregnant and they married soon after.

They then moved into a NSW rental property together with the baby and her child from another relationship, in early 2015. Her property was rented out. She stopped working and he supported them financially for 18 months until they separated towards the end of 2016.

Although their relationship was short (married for about 2 years), he started contributing to her mortgage fairly early on until the house was rented and also paid for renovations to be carried out prior to leasing. She also accumulated a lot of debt on his credit card whilst she wasn't working, to buy unnecessary things. She had already maxed out her card.

They've written up a parenting plan with regard to their son. But is he entitled to any kind of claim on her property? Or was their relationship/marriage too short? What generally happens with credit card debt created by both parties in a marriage? Is it just bad luck and whoever owns the card has to pay it off?

The details are vague but he's not up to talking about it much at the moment.

Thanks.
 

Lance

Well-Known Member
31 October 2015
852
123
2,394
Hi Corinne,

No the relationship wasn't too short. But its not a matter of him being entitled to her property. His contributions are definitely considered, but they look at pre-relationship contributions and contributions during and after the relationship. They will also look at the future needs.

So generally, if they can't agree on a fair split the court will consider all of those factors and determine an equitable split.