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Property Settlement Lawyers in Melbourne
The rules for dividing property changed on 10 June 2025. The framework the courts use is now written into the Act, and disclosure is no longer just a court rule but a statutory duty that starts before anyone files. Most of what you will read about property settlement online still describes the old law.
Dividing a pool is an evidence exercise, not an argument
A property settlement decides who keeps what after a separation. It covers everything either party holds or controls, whether the relationship was a marriage or a de facto one, and whether or not anyone applies for a divorce.
Most settlements are not won on advocacy. They are won on the quality of the material: what is in the pool, what it is genuinely worth, and who can prove it. That is truer since June 2025 than it has ever been, because the obligation to put that material on the table is now in the legislation.
We act on settlements involving companies, trusts, professional practices and substantial asset pools, in Melbourne and Dandenong.
What is in, what is out, and what is held through an entity rather than owned.
Businesses, property, shareholdings and the evidence a court will accept.
Trading businesses, practices, shareholdings and co-owners who are not parties.
Discretionary trusts, corporate trustees, and control as distinct from ownership.
Splitting orders, and self-managed funds holding real property.
Consent orders or a binding financial agreement, so the settlement is final.
The framework moved from the case law into the Act
The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) commenced on 10 June 2025. For decades the approach courts took to dividing property was a structure built out of case law, familiar to practitioners and largely invisible in the legislation itself. That approach has now been codified, and several considerations that previously lived in judgments are stated in the Act.
The changes apply to every separating couple, whether a court decides the settlement or the parties negotiate it themselves. They are not confined to litigation.
If a page explains your property settlement using only the old four-step gloss, it was written before June 2025.
The framework is legislated
The decision-making process the courts had developed is now set out in the Act rather than assembled from authority. The practical effect is less argument about the method and more focus on the evidence inside it.
Liabilities and wastage are listed
Debts, and the effect of one party materially wasting assets, are now expressly among the matters to be considered. So is the economic effect of family violence, where relevant. Each of these previously depended on case law.
Pets are dealt with separately
Companion animals now have their own framework rather than being treated as ordinary property, with the court directed to factors including attachment and each party's ability to care for the animal.
Disclosure is now a duty in the Act, and it starts early
The duty to disclose your financial position used to sit in the court rules. Since 10 June 2025 it sits in the Family Law Act itself, at s 71B for married couples and s 90RI for de facto couples. It requires each party to give the other, and the court, all relevant financial information and documents.
Two features of it matter more than the relocation. It applies from the point a party is preparing to start a property matter, not from the moment proceedings are filed. And it continues until the matter is resolved, so it is an ongoing obligation rather than a one-off exchange.
Being vague about entity accounts used to be a procedural problem. It is now a failure to comply with a statutory duty.
For a pool that is mostly a house and two superannuation accounts, this changes little. For a pool that runs through a company, a discretionary trust, a practice and a self-managed fund, it changes the posture entirely. Full disclosure across entities takes real work, and doing it properly early is now both the obligation and the strategically stronger position. See family law for business owners.
Evidence first, negotiation second
Identify the pool properly
Not just what is owned, but what is controlled. Entities, trusts and funds sit awkwardly between the two, and whether an asset is in the pool at all is often the question that decides the settlement.
Value it before arguing about it
A settlement negotiated over disputed numbers is a settlement negotiated twice. We get the valuation evidence in order first, because it is what moves the other side and what a court will actually rely on.
Formalise so it is final
An informal agreement is not a settlement. Consent orders or a binding financial agreement close it off, deal with the tax and duty consequences, and stop the matter being reopened later.
When the pool is more than a house
The framework is the same for everyone. What differs is how hard the pool is to establish.
Business owners
A trading business has to be valued, and it has to keep trading while that happens. Co-owners who are not parties to the separation have interests of their own, and the settlement has to work around them.
Family law for business ownersTrusts and structures
Whether a discretionary trust forms part of the pool turns on control rather than title, and that analysis is fact-specific. It is frequently the largest single question in the matter.
Trusts and family lawSubstantial pools
Multiple properties, investments, inherited wealth and long relationships where contributions are genuinely difficult to separate. Detail decides these, and so does disclosure.
High net worth settlementsA realistic read on what the pool actually is
Initial consultations are confidential and run by senior practitioners. If entities are involved, the most useful conversation is an early one, because the disclosure obligation now starts before anything is filed.
Book a consultationSuperannuation
Superannuation is treated as property and can be split between the parties, but it is not cash and it cannot simply be handed over. A splitting order divides the interest itself, and the money generally stays preserved until a condition of release is met.
Self-managed funds add a further layer, particularly where the fund holds real property or business premises, because the fund has its own compliance obligations that do not pause for a separation. See high net worth settlements.
The deadlines that catch people
You do not need a divorce to settle property, and you do not need to settle property to divorce. But if you do divorce, the order starts a hard 12-month deadline to bring property or spousal maintenance proceedings, after which you need the court's leave or the other party's consent (s 44(3)).
For de facto couples there is no divorce order, so the time limit runs from the breakdown of the relationship instead, which means nothing formal marks it. See separation and divorce.
Trusted on the matters that mattered most
Pentana Stanton are definitely the best lawyers to represent you in court. I was often distressed about my matter but they always showed compassion and tried to support me in the best way possible. Penny always fought for me even though my custody dispute was a difficult one.
After speaking to many law firms, I felt that getting legal help was not for me. But my view completely changed after speaking with Special Counsel Peter Wood. He was knowledgeable, generous, kind, and genuinely caring.
Highly professional, compassionate staff with a high level of knowledge and competence. Reliable, reassuring and there when you need them. Highly recommend.
Property settlement questions, current to the 2025 changes
Last reviewed July 2026. References are to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) as amended by the Family Law Amendment Act 2024 (Cth), which commenced on 10 June 2025. Property matters are dealt with by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Get the pool right, and the rest follows.
If your separation involves a business, a trust, a practice or a substantial asset pool, the settlement will turn on evidence and disclosure rather than argument. Arrange a consultation and we will give you a clear read on what is in the pool and what it is worth.
See also: Separation & Divorce, Family Lawyers in Melbourne, High Net Worth Settlements, Binding Financial Agreements, Family Dispute Resolution.