If your asset pool includes family trusts, corporate structures, or significant investment holdings, you should assume that the other side's lawyers will be looking carefully at how those structures are set up and how they've operated.
Here's why it matters.
Under Australian family law, the court has a broad discretion to look behind corporate and trust structures when determining what's available for division. Assets held in a family trust aren't automatically quarantined from a settlement — particularly where you or your spouse are beneficiaries, appointors, or directors, and where the structure has been used to fund the lifestyle of the relationship.
Similarly, companies in which either party holds an interest — directly or through associates — will be scrutinised for their true value, their treatment of income, and the extent to which they represent a benefit to either party.
This works in both directions. If you're the party without direct control of the structures, you may be entitled to more than a simple reading of the balance sheet suggests. If you're the party running the structures, you need to understand the disclosure obligations and the risk of adverse findings if those obligations aren't met.
The strategic implications for property settlements involving these structures are significant: which assets go into the pool, how they're valued, and what form any settlement takes all require careful legal and financial analysis.
We work with valuers, accountants and financial planners experienced in complex asset pools. If your matter involves structures like these, early strategic advice is not optional — it's essential.
