VIC Tenants in Common and Property Settlement - Property Included in Asset Pool?

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john1

Active Member
20 November 2015
6
0
31
Hi,

I believe that if gifts are received during marriage by a parent and they are intended for the blood relative,i.e. son or daughter, the spouse does not have a claim to this in a property settlement.

My mother gifted a property to my brother and me in 2001. The property is in both our names as Tenants in Common Equal Shares. My mother is still alive and she did not intend to
gift it to anyone else but the blood relatives, i.e. Her 2 sons, and were for our use only, and not any marriage that we were to get into.

I was married for 2 (she claims 4 ½) years, and after 3 ½ years of separation, my ex-wife is now making a claim for property settlement. The gifted property was rented out and was not used to fund anything in the marriage. In fact, it was my brother that was taking care of all the rental arrangements, repairs, dealing with agents, etc., therefore, my ex-wife had nothing to do with it, nor did I.

Will this property be included in the asset pool under Family Law?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
5,152
720
2,894
Yes and no...

Yes - all assets are factored into asset division.

No - Assuming you have no kids, then it was a short marriage and as such each party should expect to take out of the relationship roughly what they brought into the relationship.
 

john1

Active Member
20 November 2015
6
0
31
Thank You for your reply Sammy01,

There were no children to the marriage.

Before we married she came from a country where the salary was very low even for professionals. She would have a better standard of living here now in Australia. We lived in rental accommodation, so she did not stay in any property that I owned nor did we buy property in joint names. I paid for everything, including all household bills. She made no financial and non-financial contribution to any property I owned.

She, in fact, hardly made any contribution to housework either. She was quite lazy. It was almost like we were housemates but she did less than a housemate because she hardly did any cooking, or wash dishes.

What would the court decide on regarding something called disparity of resources which I think means differences in assets and income? She has no assets and has credit card debts. I have a higher income and I own property.

She seems to have been saving money, however, because I know she went on at least one trip back home.

What percentage would I lose, if any?

Again, many thanks.