Family Law
Property Mediation
“Let Us Help You Resolve your Property
Dispute, The Wise Way”.
Many separating couples want to resolve their family law property settlement
issues fast and cost effectively, but many mistakenly think that the only way to
resolve it is to go to Court. However, there is another way. Private Mediation offers
a very fast and cost-effective alternative to Court.
Our Wise Mediators can help you both work through your property issues and
options to help resolve your property dispute in as little as 1 day in property mediation.
Our Wise Mediators are dedicated in helping separated couples resolve their
property settlement dispute, “The Wise Way”.
Best of all, we offer the convenience of online mediation via our securely
encrypted mediation platform, so regardless of your location, we can
conveniently mediate online. We help separating couples resolve their property
settlement in a nonconfrontational atmosphere where we help you both be
future-focused and commercially sensible, instead of trapped in the blame
game and endless litigation.
Our Wise Mediators will help you identify the property issues, and options and
help you both come up with an amicable resolution for your property settlement.
Did You Know?
Did you know that the costs of litigation and delays of the Family Law court
system can often end up eating away the equity in property?
It is not uncommon for parties to make the mistake of arguing about a small
percentage adjustment to the property pool, and end up spending more on
legal fees than the value of the small percentage they are seeking.
Our Wise Mediators can help you both save money and time by
resolving your property settlement dispute fast and cost effectively by
private mediation.
Our “Genuine Steps” Mediation Service
We offer a “Genuine Steps” Mediation Service, as a pre-action procedure
required by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
Separated couples are now required to file a “Genuine Steps Certificate”
indicating that they have genuinely tried to resolve their family law property
dispute by attending a dispute resolution service such as private mediation
before they can file any family law property proceedings with the Federal
Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
Our Wise Mediators provide professional dispute resolution services as the
required “Genuine Steps” to help separating couples resolve their property
settlement, The Wise Way.
Book an Obligation Free Chat About Our
Genuine Steps Service
Our Wise Mediators
Our Wise Mediators are Nationally Accredited Mediators in accordance
with the National Mediation Accreditation Standards (“NMAS”) attaining
and maintaining mediation training and competency standards in
Australia. The Australian NMAS Standards of Mediation Accreditation are
also used by neighboring countries of the Asia Pacific Region.
Our Wise Mediators also have extensive experience, so we understand
settlements. We are dedicated to helping separating couples during this
difficult time of separation to resolve their family law property settlement
dispute by helping them identify the property issues, helping the parties to
come up with different options, and helping the parties come to an agreed
amicable property settlement.
Why Mediate with Wise Mediations?
Our Wise Mediators help separating couples resolve their property settlement
dispute in a calm, neutral and non-confrontational atmosphere. Our Wise Mediators
work with separating couples to help them come up with different and realistic options to settle, so that you are both in charge of your financial destiny, and not the Court where you have no control of the outcome.
We help separating couples to focus on the future and solutions, rather than going backwards and playing the blame game which only creates more conflict which ultimately costs more money for both the parties. Our property mediation services help the parties each make reasonable compromises to reach a mutually agreed property settlement so you can each move on in your lives and
avoid unnecessary legal costs of litigation.
If a settlement is reached, then we can provide a draft of that settlement agreement reached at mediation in the form of a property consent orders document draft which the parties can then take the necessary steps to have made into orders by the Registrar of the Family Court at the mutual request of the parties.
Our Modern Online Mediation
Our modern online video conferencing mediation service is a securely
encrypted online platform with virtual mediation rooms. We provide
the convenience of mediation online, where we can video conference,
share documents, electronically sign documents securely with Adobe
PDF verified signatures, and also share a virtual whiteboard.
You can use your desktop, laptop, iPad or tablet to mediate online.
Online mediation is modern, convenient and cost effective, where you
can mediate in the privacy of your home and eliminate the need to
travel anywhere. So regardless your location in Australia, we can
mediate with you online.
Book an Obligation Free Chat with
a Wise Mediator
Got a Property Settlement Dispute
Talk to a Wise Mediator Obligation-Free About How We Can Help
Our Document Drafting Service
We provide a document drafting service. Our Wise Mediator can provide you with
a document draft that reflects the mutually agreed property settlement
reached at property mediation.
We can provide a property consent orders document draft which the parties can
file online with the Registry of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
seeking that the consent property orders be made by the Registrar of the Court,
without the need to attend Court.
We can also provide a Heads of Agreement document draft for parties that wish
to settle their property dispute using a Binding Financial Agreement. The parties can
use the Heads of Agreement document draft as the terms of settlement reached
at mediation, and have their lawyers formalize the agreement by a Binding
Financial Agreement.
A Property Settlement is the final division of matrimonial assets and liabilities after the breakdown and separation of a marriage or de-facto relationship under the Family Law Act (1975) Cth.
It includes assets such as real estate, vehicles, boats, caravans, furniture & chattels, shares, money and superannuation, and the liabilities associated such as mortgages, loans, credit cards, and other liabilities.
A marriage is recognised by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia as being a legal marriage in Australia or a legal marriage in another country where the parties were domicile in Australia.
A de-facto relationship for the purposes of a property settlement refers to de-facto relationships of 2 years or more of cohabitation of a couple regardless their sexual orientation in the domestic relationship.
A de-facto relationship for the purposes of a Property Settlement can also instead be recognised by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia on the basis that there is a child in the de facto relationship despite not cohabitating for 2 years, or a de-facto relationship that has been previously registered with a State or Territory of Australia, or if there were significant contributions by a party to the relationship and a serious injustice would result if a property settlement was not done despite not cohabitating for 2 years.
There are time limits for an application for a final property settlement to be filed with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA). For marriages, it is within 12 months from the date of divorce of the parties. For de-facto relationships it is within 2 years of the date of separation.
For married couples, a property settlement can be done whilst still legally married but separated on a final basis despite not being divorced yet. If the parties do divorce, then it is within 12 months of the date of divorce that either party has to file for a property settlement with the Court.
Binding Financial Agreement
A Binding Financial Agreement is a final property settlement document that is in the format of a contract between the parties.
It is a contract and not a court order for a property settlement.
However the Family Law Act (1975) Cth has specific requirements that must be followed in order for the document to be binding otherwise it will be invalid.
One of the requirements is that each party has their own legal representative and they must obtain legal advice and a certificate of legal advice signed by their lawyer confirming they provided advice and the pros and cons of the proposed Binding Financial Agreement document draft.
A Binding Financial Agreement cannot be made without each party having their own lawyers.
Both parties are obligated to carry out what is required in the Binding Financial Agreement as part of their contractual duties to each other. If a party does not carry out the terms of the Binding Financial Agreement then it is a breach of the contract.
The Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia (Family Law Division) have jurisdiction to hear an application by a party disputing the Binding Financial Agreement if they have obtained it by fraud, non-disclosure of all income and assets, or have breached the terms of the agreement.
The Court has the power to strike out the Binding Financial Agreement as being invalid and then make final property orders instead as determined by the Court.
Final Property Orders by Consent
Final Property Orders by Consent are a final property settlement that is formalised by an actual court that the parties seek the Registrar of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia to make as a Property Order by Consent to settle their family law property dispute.
Property Order by Consent is a document draft that is written in the format of a court order and is provided by the parties to the Registrar of the Family Court of Australia as the exactly worded terms of the agreed property settlement as reached by the parties at mediation.
Unlike a Binding Financial Agreement, parties seeking a Property Order by Consent do not need to have their own lawyers. They can make an online application seeking the Property Orders by Consent without the need of having their own lawyers.
Since it is a court order, it also has the force of a court order whereby both parties are obligated to carry out what is stated in the orders otherwise they can be held in contravention (breach) of the court order.
For refinancing purposes and transferring of property, refinancers will usually ask for a certified copy of the Property Orders by Consent to finalise the refinancing.
For transfer of matrimonial property such as a house, a property conveyancer and the Titles Office will also require the production of the Property Orders by Consent to show it is a matrimonial property settlement and so is not liable for any stamp duty for the transfer.
Let Us Help You Mediate Your Property Settlement Dispute, The Wise Way.
