Wednesday 12 December 2012

Proven Instances To Consider For Binding Financial Agreement

By Ray Latimer


Prior to the ability to develop Binding Financial Agreements (BFAs) was extended to same-sex and de facto relationships, when such a relationship had split up, both sides would have had to prepare themselves for some long-winded and tedious litigation through the Supreme Court. Thank goodness, this has now all been improved with the launch of section 90UD of the Family Law Act 1975 which particularly entitles people in de facto relationships to agree upon what they contemplate to be a rational division of property and money once the relationship has broken down. Effectively, this now places de facto agreements in the same category as is already loved by married couples. It means that same-sex relationships are apportioned with the exact same rights to heterosexual couples and this will be viewed as a welcome move by many gay rights groups that have been involved and campaigning over these matters.

How Does One Go About Creating A BFA In These Conditions? If a de facto, or same-sex relationship has split up irretrievably, s.90UD of the 1975 Act sets out that the following practices would need to be implemented for a court to determine and apply a binding financial agreement. These are the following: They will have to ensure that both sides find professional and qualified legal services. This is imperative and it should help to be sure that each party's unique situation is evaluated and legally commented upon. If gross unfairness can be identified within the agreement as it stands, the legal advisor will point this out to the relevant partner and they will then only go ahead and sign once they understand specifically what they are agreeing to and/or possibly compromising.

A certificate must be obtained from the applicable legal professional which will verify the fact that this demand has been pleased. It would then has to be added as an 'annex' to the main written legal document which will compose the BFA. The BFA will need to indicate the extent of any relevant spousal maintenance to be provided. It will has to be signed by both people and a copy will be retained by each. Provided all of the steps have been taken above, the court should not scrutinise the BFA to be sure that it is just and equitable. The court would only tend to set a BFA aside if there were fundamental flaws with the documents (e.g. the BFA had been created in a fraudulent manner). It is also essential to note that a person can only get into a BFA if they are not already party to such an agreement with another person.

Swifter Conclusion by the end of a Relationship: The sort of post nuptial agreement should help to ensure that any financial matters are dealt with far more smoothly than they may well be. Given, some time would be required on both sides to conceive the binding financial agreement, but once a settlement is arranged, the BFA will give a far quicker resolution to the question of who gets what. Needless to say, to a large scope, at the end of any relationship and at a period when communication between both parties may not be as manageable as it once was, a lot will rely on how fast an agreement can be settled. Nonetheless, it would probably turn out to be more prudent and cost effective for the parties to fix the property and financial risks in this way.

Whichever actions the members of a de facto relationship opt to take when things have split up, the fact remains that Australian law now provides them with these alternatives. Gone are the days where there was only restricted avenues that could be pursued in order to fix such challenges. Such de facto agreements now exist to realise a swifter resolution to the distribution of property and money.




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