WA Superannuation Splitting After Separation?

[GREG BELL]

I have been married for 5 years to Filipino woman. We married in the Philippines and she has been here since 2011 and her son joined us in 2012, whom is 15 now. We decided to split now and I was wondering if she gets half my superannuation or is it done proportionally on amount of time we were married? She has worked casual for 4 years and has permanent residency but not Australian citizenship. We have unit we bought 2 years ago for around $300,000, but still owe around 275,000. Her income is around $20,000 p/a and mine is around $110,000.

Can you give me some idea how income splitting and superannuation would work after separation. I have around $370,000 in superannuation she has around $5,000. We have no children between us.

Thanks

 

[AllForHer]

In terms of superannuation, I believe only that earned by each party during the marriage is taken into consideration when the court is asked to determine a property settlement. Thus, super earned before the marriage is not ordinarily taken into account.

A property settlement can be whatever you like, however, if you and the other party can reach agreement. If you're unable to reach agreement and you ask the court to decide, then it's decided based on a four-step process:

1. What is the value of the joint asset pool?
2. What was the financial and non-financial contribution of each of the parties?
3. What are the future needs of each party?
4. Is the settlement just and equitable?

Most people start at 50/50 and make adjustments accordingly. For example, if you made the most significant financial and non-financial contributions to the house, the bar might swing to 55/45 in your favour. If she has a disability and is unable to work full time, that's a future need that would need to be considered, so it might swing back again to 50/50.

Hope this helps in some way.