What We Do
Consent Orders
An affordable court-approved document that makes the division of your assets legally binding. It’s the most popular way of splitting finances after separation.
Mortgage Broker
A registered mortgage broker can assist you in refinancing your mortgage, so you can transfer the title to the house into your name.
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How We Can Help
If You’ve Separated
We are a family law firm specialising in assisting couples to divide their assets and debts when they separate. We do this in a number of ways…
If you and your former partner are able to reach an agreement on how to split your assets and debts, we can prepare either consent orders or a binding financial agreement to make your agreement legally binding. If you don’t do this, it won’t be legally binding which means that your partner can change their mind and come back for more later on.
If you and your former partner cannot agree on how to split your finances, we can negotiate on your behalf. We do this by writing to your partner directly, exchanging the necessary financial documents (to verify how much they have) and making offers on your behalf.
As a last resort, if you still cannot reach an agreement (or your partner is not engaging in the process), we can start Family Court proceedings on your behalf. Just because court proceedings start, does not mean your case will go all the way to trial. The vast majority of cases (over 95%) are settled before the trial stage, so this ends up costing less than many think.
Mortgage Brokers
We’re also registered mortgage brokers, so we can help you get the right loan to refinance the mortgage and have the title to the house transferred to your name. This is usually done in conjunction with either consent orders or a binding financial agreement.
Still In A Relationship
If you are still in a relationship (or about to enter a new one), we can help protect your assets if you separate in the future. We do this through a binding financial agreement before separation (eg a prenup).
Dividing The House
For many people, the family home is their most important and valuable asset. It is often the first thing that couples who have separated talk about. If you’re separating, you’ll need to make a decision on whether you or your partner will keep the family home, or whether you sell it and split the sale proceeds.
Refinancing & Keeping the House
Many people, when separating, prefer to keep the house instead of selling it.
If you own your home jointly with your partner, then the process typically involves refinancing: transferring the mortgage and title from joint names to one person's name.
Before deciding to keep the house, it's essential to evaluate whether you can afford the mortgage payments on your own. It's advisable to consult with our mortgage brokers (no cost to you), who can guide you through the refinancing process, assess your borrowing capacity, and help obtain pre-approval from lenders.
You will need to get the proper legal documentation done as well, which is either consent orders or a binding financial agreement to legally formalise everything (including the transfer of the house). Our family lawyers can help you with that. These legal documents ensure the agreement to split your finances is legally binding, and are required by the banks when refinancing.
At MK Legal, clients using our free mortgage broker service can get up to a 30% discount on consent orders. Get everything done in one place.
Sell The House
When separating, another option for dealing with the house is to sell it to an independent buyer. This process involves putting the house on the market through a real estate agent.
There are two primary options to sell the house: a private sale or an auction.
A private sale involves selling the house on the open market through an agent, with agreed-upon conditions like the duration on the market, minimum selling price, and steps if the house doesn't sell. This method suits those without immediate time pressures.
An auction, on the other hand, is preferable for a quicker sale. It involves setting a reserve price, the lowest acceptable selling price, which the real estate agent can help determine.
It’s important that you agree on how you will divide the sale proceeds once sold, who will pay the mortgage in the meantime and other procedural steps involved in selling. All this should be formalised in legal documents called consent orders or a binding financial agreement.
A Combination
A combination can also be agreed upon.
For example, one person may be given certain period to refinance, and if the refinancing falls through, the house is sold.
Equity In The House
If you or your partner own real estate, you need to understand equity. Equity is the difference between the current value of the house and the current outstanding mortgage. It is basically the amount of money you would get if you sold your house and paid off the mortgage (less sales fees etc).
Current Property Value
EXAMPLE
$600,000
Outstanding Mortgage
EXAMPLE
$400,000
Property Equity
EXAMPLE
$200,000
How Equity Impacts Refinancing?
Equity is an important consideration when you're going through the refinancing process following a separation (eg you wish to transfer both the title and the mortgage into your sole name).
The amount of equity in the house impacts a person's ability to borrow in the following ways:
- The more equity you have in the property, the easier it is to borrow and the better rate you can get from the bank.
- If you have less than 80% equity in the property (e.g. house value divided by the mortgage amount), then the bank may require you to obtain lender's mortgage insurance. This is insurance which covers the bank in case of a default. There is an extra cost added to the mortgage to account for this.
Our mortgage brokers can give you an idea of what your house is worth because we have access to the valuation portals used by the banks.
How Equity Determines The Payout Figure?
Another important reason to understand equity is because it’s used as a starting point to discuss a payout figure to the spouse who is giving up their interest in the house. For example, the person keeping the house might pay some money to the other person. The amount of this payout is influenced by the amount of equity in the house.
You might, for example, decide to split the equity in the house 50/50 (but remember you don’t have to split everything 50/50 and each case is unique). If there’s $200,000 of equity in the house, then the payout figure from the person keeping the house to the other person would be $100,000.
What Our Clients Say About Us
Overall Rating
OVER 100+ REVIEWS
“They provided a flat fee, which was lower than any other family lawyer”
“I highly recommend MKI Legal”
YAEL HARRIS
“MKI are very transparent and reasonable with their costs”
TREVOR KOP
“He was very compassionate, caring and...constantly communicated with me”
“Nothing was ever too hard and he always made me feel like I mattered”
JACQUI MOOY
“Made what could have been a complex process seem easy and stress-free. Am very appreciative!”
SEAN HOWARD
“Angelo was easy to talk to and very pleasant to deal with.”
TRACY EVERSDEN
“He was very thorough with his work and was prompt will all correspondence.”
EMMA MACLEOD
Ratings correct as of late 2023
Mortgage Brokering Service
If you're looking to keep your house after separating, our first suggestion is to chat with our mortgage brokers.
If you want to keep the house, you'll normally need to take over the mortgage. The house's title will then be transferred into your sole name. This is known as “refinancing the mortgage”.
If you need to pay-out your former partner, we can also help you borrow the funds needed to do that.
Our expert brokers will figure out how much you can borrow so you know upfront where you stand.
And guess what? Our mortgage broker service won't cost you a thing.
Best of all, if your loan settles, you’ll save 30% off the cost of your consent orders.
Have A Lawyer Negotiate With Your Ex-Partner
After separation, it's crucial that you do your best to reach an agreement with your former partner on how to divide your assets and debts. If discussions with your former partner have not been successful, our negotiation package may be suitable for your circumstances.
Our negotiation package involves a family lawyer writing to your former partner and negotiating on your behalf with the aim of reaching an agreement to split your finances.
If you and your ex-partner cannot agree on asset distribution, our negotiation package is for you. Starting from $200 per week, we will negotiate with your ex-partner on your behalf.
The negotiations will cover the division of your assets and debts, including:
Negotiating who keeps the house
How the superannuation is divided
How the mortgage is split
How other assets like businesses and family trusts are divided
Obtaining financial documents from your partner to verify what assets and debts they have
This package is ideal for you if:
You can’t reach an agreement with your former partner
Your partner has already hired a lawyer
Our Team
Our award winning lawyers are here to help
Get More Family Law Assistance With AI
LawAI
LawAI is a helpful and informative AI chat bot that specialises in family law enquiries.
Ask questions about dividing your assets and debts, consent orders, prenups, binding financial agreements, refinancing etc.
In-depth knowledge about different types of situations based on all the information on our website.
Easy to use and it’s free.
Caution should be taken when using LawAI as it can give incorrect information. Consider checking important information. LawAI is not a substitute for legal advice.
Dividing Superannuation
It is not strictly necessary to divide superannuation. The only legal way to divide super by agreement is either through consent orders or a binding financial agreement.
Super division happens through a super split, where the super fund from one person transfers money to the other person's super account.
This means that the money stays in super and is not cashed out. Therefore, you cannot access the money until retirement age unless you apply for early access through the hardship provision super funds have.
Couples can negotiate themselves how much super is transferred, if any at all. Sometimes super transfer is required to fairly split the assets. For example, if a 50-50 split is agreed upon, a superannuation transfer might be required to top someone up to 50%.
Dividing Other Assets & Debts
You need to divide all your assets and debts, not just the main ones (e.g house, superannuation and the mortgage). This means, you can’t continue owning assets and debts jointly with your partner in the long term. A clean financial break is necessary for you both to move on with your lives. Learn more about why you must divide everything. Here are some examples of other assets and debts that should not be missed.
Other Assets
Business
Company, partnership, sole trader. Including all the assets owned by the business.
Motor Vehicles
Cars, trailers, unregistered vehicles, motorcycles, caravans, e-scooters
Bank Accounts
Term deposits, savings accounts
Personal Items
Furniture, electronic devices, jewellery
Investments
Shares, cryptocurrency, precious metals (gold, silver), exchange-traded funds, bonds
Family Trusts
Including unit trusts
Self-Managed Super Fund
Overseas Assets
Overseas real estate, bank accounts, pension funds
Miscellaneous Items
Valuable artwork, antiques, rare coins, wine collections, high-end watches, sports memorabilia, domain names, comic book collections, rare toys, vintage musical instruments, expensive jewellery and gemstones
Other Debts
Credit Card
Business Debts
Overdraft facilities, loan guarantees, employee entitlements, trade creditors, bank loans, lease obligations
Miscellaneous Debts
HECS-HELP, tax debts, car loans, bills, rates, solar panel loans, pool debts, travel loans, personal overdrafts
Other Family Law Services
Children
While we specialise in property and finance, we can also help you with the legal process regarding your children.
Contact us
(08) 9470 2777
help@familylawassist.com.au
Level 5, 231 Adelaide Terrace
PERTH WA 6000