A property settlement in Melbourne is governed by federal family law, so the same rules apply here as across most of Australia. After separation, you and your former partner divide your combined assets and debts — by negotiation, mediation, or if necessary a court decision — under the Family Law Act 1975. There is no automatic 50/50 split and no fixed formula. The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia decides what is “just and equitable” based on the particular facts of your relationship.
How Assets and Debts Are Divided
Every property settlement, whether you reach it privately or a judge imposes it, is measured against a four-step process. Since 10 June 2025 that process is written into the Act itself.
Step 1 — identify and value everything. All assets and debts go into one pool, regardless of whose name they are in or when they were acquired: real estate, bank accounts, vehicles, shares, businesses, superannuation, mortgages, loans, and credit cards. Values are taken at the time of settlement or final hearing, not the date you separated. Valuations are generally expected to be no more than six months old.
Step 2 — assess contributions. The court weighs what each person put into the relationship. Financial contributions include wages, savings, and inheritances. Non-financial contributions include renovations, running a business, or managing investments. Homemaking and parenting — cooking, cleaning, childcare — are treated as equally important as earning income.
Step 3 — consider future circumstances. The split is then adjusted for factors like each person’s age, health, earning capacity, care of children under 18, and financial resources. These adjustments are usually expressed as a percentage shift, most commonly between 5 and 20 percent.
Step 4 — check overall fairness. The court steps back and asks whether the result is just and equitable, and adjusts if not.
Research published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies has found outcomes commonly land in a range of roughly 55–60 percent to the wife and 40–45 percent to the husband, though every case turns on its own facts.
Deadlines for Starting a Claim
If you were married, you must either reach a property settlement or file a court application within 12 months of your divorce becoming final. If you were in a de facto relationship, you have two years from the date of separation.
Missing the deadline does not automatically end your claim, but you then have to ask the court for permission to proceed out of time, and permission is not always granted. For married couples, sorting out property before the divorce is finalised avoids the 12-month countdown altogether.
Making an Agreement Legally Binding
Most property settlements are resolved by agreement rather than by a judge. There are two formal routes.
Consent Orders
Consent orders are a written agreement submitted to the court for approval. Once approved they carry the same legal weight as orders made after a full trial. Both of you must make full financial disclosure, and the court checks that the proposed division is just and equitable before signing off. You can file electronically through the Commonwealth Courts Portal, and the court publishes a do-it-yourself kit for people without lawyers. The filing fee is $205. If the paperwork is deficient, a registrar issues a requisition giving you roughly four weeks to fix the problems; no response means dismissal.
Binding Financial Agreements
A binding financial agreement (BFA) is a private contract that does not need court approval. Both parties must receive independent legal advice from an Australian lawyer before signing, and each lawyer must provide a certificate confirming they gave that advice. BFAs can be made before, during, or after a relationship. Because they bypass the court’s fairness check, they carry higher risks if challenged later. Under sections 90K and 90UM of the Family Law Act, a court can set a BFA aside on grounds including fraud, non-disclosure of assets, duress, unconscionable conduct, absence of proper legal advice, or a material change in circumstances affecting a child.
Superannuation
Superannuation counts as property and can be divided between separating partners, though splitting is not compulsory. A split does not turn super into cash — the money stays in the superannuation system until the recipient reaches a condition of release such as retirement.
Standard accumulation funds are usually valued from a recent member statement. Defined benefit funds and self-managed super funds generally need an expert or actuarial valuation. A split can be formalised through a superannuation agreement (with independent legal advice for both parties), consent orders, or a court order. The fund trustee must be given at least 28 days’ notice before orders are filed or a trial starts, and a sealed copy of the final order must be provided to the trustee for implementation.
As an alternative to splitting, you can “offset” super: the person with the lower balance takes a larger share of other assets instead. Both parties must disclose all superannuation interests on the court forms whether or not they intend to split.
Tax and Stamp Duty in Victoria
Victoria exempts property transfers from stamp duty under section 44 of the Duties Act 2000 (Vic) where the transfer results from the breakdown of a marriage or domestic relationship. To access the exemption, the transfer should be formalised through a court order or binding financial agreement; informal arrangements may not qualify. The exemption generally does not extend to transfers of assets held through companies or trusts, and landholder duty may apply where shares or units are transferred in an entity holding Victorian land valued at $1 million or more.
Capital gains tax is generally deferred on assets transferred between spouses under Subdivision 126-A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. The recipient takes on the original cost base and acquisition date, and CGT is only triggered when they later sell. The rollover is mandatory when the conditions are met, and applies to transfers under court orders, consent orders, arbitration awards, or BFAs. Informal or private agreements do not qualify, and the rollover is unavailable if the asset goes to a trust or company rather than to an individual spouse.
What Changed on 10 June 2025
The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 took effect on 10 June 2025 and introduced the most significant changes to property settlement law in decades. It applies to proceedings started on or after that date, and to ongoing matters that had not reached a final hearing by then. A statutory review is scheduled to begin after 10 June 2028.
- The four-step “just and equitable” framework is now written into the statute.
- Courts can expressly consider “wastage” — reckless or intentional destruction of property or financial resources — when assessing future circumstances.
- The court can factor in a party’s need to provide appropriate housing for a child under 18.
- Companion animals are treated as a separate category. The court may award sole ownership or order a sale, but cannot order shared care or ownership. Factors include attachment, ownership history, and any abuse of the animal.
- Financial disclosure duties have been lifted from court rules into the Act. Lawyers must now inform clients of the duty and the consequences of non-compliance, which can include contempt findings, costs orders, or adverse adjustments to the settlement.
- “Add-backs” are gone. In Shinohara & Shinohara [2025] FedCFamC1A 126, the Full Court ruled that under the amended section 79(3)(a)(i), assets that no longer exist cannot be notionally added back to the pool. Instead, the circumstances of their disposal are weighed under the contributions or future-needs steps.
- Economic and financial abuse, including dowry-related abuse, is now expressly recognised as family violence under section 4AB.
When Family Violence Affects the Split
The principle in Kennon v Kennon (1997) allows the court to adjust a property split where a course of violent conduct during the relationship made one party’s contributions “significantly more arduous.” A successful claim needs proof not just that violence occurred, but that it had a discernible adverse impact on the affected person’s capacity to contribute. In Loncar & Loncar (2021), the court upheld a 7.5 percent adjustment in the wife’s favour after finding a systemic pattern of family violence affecting her contributions both during and after the relationship. Since June 2025, courts are expressly required to consider the impact of family violence — including economic and financial abuse — when assessing contributions, future needs, and spousal maintenance.
Mediation Before Court
The court expects separating couples to make a genuine effort to resolve property disputes before filing litigation. Family dispute resolution is compulsory for parenting matters and strongly encouraged for property-only disputes. The court also runs conciliation conferences specifically for financial matters, at a fee of $490.
In Victoria, Relationships Australia offers a property-specific mediation service called AccessResolve. Family Relationship Centres provide one free hour of joint dispute resolution, with subsequent hours charged at $30 per hour for those earning over $50,000 gross annually and free for those earning less.
What It Costs
A Melbourne family lawyer typically charges between $300 and $700 per hour, with senior partners at the upper end. Some firms offer fixed-fee arrangements: one Melbourne firm advertises consent orders from $5,280 and post-separation financial agreements from $5,280, with strategic advice sessions from $450.
A straightforward agreement reached without prolonged negotiation can cost around $10,000 in total legal fees. Matters that run to a full court hearing can exceed $100,000. Court filing fees add to the bill: an initiating application for financial orders is $435, or $585 if interim orders are also sought. Fee exemptions are available for applicants in financial hardship or holding government concession cards. Several family law firms also partner with legal finance providers such as JustFund and Plenti, which cover legal fees upfront and are repaid from the eventual settlement.
Free and Subsidised Help
Victoria Legal Aid runs a Family Law Property Program for separating couples with net assets of $500,000 or less (excluding superannuation), or an estimated net claim of $250,000 or less. The program provides subsidised legal representation at up to three family dispute resolution conferences. If you have a net property pool under $550,000 (excluding super) you may also qualify for the court’s Priority Property Pool pathway, a simplified process designed to be faster and cheaper than ordinary litigation; cases involving contested trusts, companies, or parenting orders are excluded.
Women’s Legal Service Victoria offers free, confidential legal advice and representation for women and non-binary people experiencing relationship breakdown, family violence, or sexual violence. The Law Institute of Victoria’s Legal Referral Service can connect you with private lawyers who offer a free 30-minute initial interview to discuss options and costs.
Changing a Final Order
Once a property order is made, whether by consent or after a hearing, it is intended to be final. Under section 79A of the Family Law Act, a court can vary or set aside a property order only if the applicant proves specific grounds — fraud, duress, suppression of evidence, failure to disclose relevant financial information, or giving false evidence — and shows that those grounds caused a miscarriage of justice. The threshold is high: the non-disclosure must have been significant enough that, had it been known, the outcome would likely have been materially different. Dissatisfaction with the deal, a change of heart, or a general complaint that the order was unfair is not enough. Unsuccessful applications are expensive and routinely result in costs orders against the applicant.