When a separating couple starts the family law process, most have preconceived ideas about how it will work and their entitlements.

On the Surviving Separation podcast, TGB family law partners Jane Miller and Diana Dichiera separate fact from fiction across the areas of child care arrangements, property and even how superannuation is split.

“The way the legislation has been amended over ten years ago now is that super is an asset and you may have somebody that’s a stay at home parent and the other one that’s a bread winner and the breadwinner’s accumulated all the superannuation,” Ms Miller told Surviving Separation.

“There is no doubt that the stay at home parent’s going to get a slice of that. The process is called a superannuation splitting order where normally a portion of that superannuation gets taken out and transferred over into a super fund in the name of the other person and no one can access it until they qualify for the release date, which is normally the retirement age.”

Many separating couples also believe that it is enough to draft their own agreement and not get it formalised.

“It is not worth the paper that it’s written on,” Ms Dichiera said.

“Ideally you’d like to formalise it with an agreement that’s binding with the court to ensure that there’s no comeback, that you can protect whatever it is that you’re going to keep out of your division of property, whether it’s real estate or savings or superannuation or investment businesses, but also to protect what you might accumulate and acquire beyond the period of your separation.”

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