Dividing Up the Pie in Family Law Property Settlements – a recorded lunchtime online conference

Duration: Approximately 2.5 Hours

Hear from the experts at this online conference. You can watch it on your computer or on your portable electronic device from anywhere.

The conference will be based on our highly successful video webinar technology: there'll be a chairperson and presentations.

One registration can be shared by colleagues within the same firm utilising the same login.

THE PROGRAM

Session 1: Ink on the Wedding Dress: Duress and other Ticking Time Bombs in Financial Agreements

Financial agreements are often drafted, signed and tucked away in the bottom drawer with the hope that they will never be looked at again. Yet, at the time when they are most needed, ticking time bombs can destroy any reliance placed upon them. This session will examine the make or break aspects of financial agreements and relevant cases, including:

• Section 90K of the Family Law Act
• Obtaining independent and sound legal advice: Adame Adame [2014] FCCA 42; Renard v Geach [2015] FCCA 617
• Compliance with the technical requirements of the Act: Black Black [2008] Fam CAFC 7; Abrum Abrum [2013] Fam CA 897; Grant Grant-Lovett [2010] FMCA Fam 162
• Compliance with subject matter requirements: Bloomfield Grainger [2018] Fam CA 36
• The consequences of fraud and failure to disclose: Nyles Nyles [2011] Fam CA 565; Acker Acker [2014] Fam CA 891
• The impact of undue influence and unconscionable conduct: Thorne v Kennedy [2017] HCA 49;Teh v Muir [2017] Fam CA 138; Gongsun Paling [2020] Fam CAFC 244
• Duress: Blackmore Webber [2009] FMCA Fam 154
• Essential considerations when drafting financial agreements

Session 2: Into the Mix: Corporate Law in Family Law Proceedings

The waters can get murky when the parties to a family dispute are involved, either together or separately, in a company. This session will examine how to proceed and what strategies can be used to separate and account for the various interests, including:

• Relevant provisions of the Family Law Act and the Corporations Act and how to use them to achieve results
• Doing the due diligence on your client and their spouse/partner ownership and involvement in the company
• Are all interests relevant? Separating the wheat from the chaff
• Strategies for seeking information and disclosure
• Assets, valuations and future interests
• Optimising negotiations and assessing the practical and financial implications of:

• Winding up
• Asset and share sales/transfers
• Ongoing directors and officers
• Maintaining the company as a going concern
• Employment or termination of either party

• When should a company be joined as a third party in proceedings?

• The power of the Family Court to alter interests and make orders in relation to a third party
• Key terms in property settlements involving a corporate entity
• Relevant cases

Session 3: A Room with a View: Rural Perspectives in Family Law Property Settlements

When a relationship breakdown occurs in a farming family, the consequences can extend far beyond the couple and present complex and challenging issues for those involved. This session will examine the particular issues that practitioners need to be aware of when involved in advising a farming family, including:

• Identifying ownership and management structures of assets and the farming business
• The presence of intergenerational arrangements including loans and other financial accommodations
• Assessing family expectations or arrangements concerning involvement and succession of the farming business
• Managing the perils of income deprivation through property sale
• Assessing the contributions of a non-farming spouse
• Tax and other financial consequences of proposed property arrangements
• Impact of a property settlement on the greater farming family
• Relevant case examples
• Strategies for protection of the farming assets