Family/Separation/Property Relationships Act Proceedings

Mr I was in his mid sixties.  He came to us after his wife left him, he having very little information about his family marital financial details.  He had left things of a financial nature to such an extent in his wife's hands over the years that when he saw us he was really very ignorant about his position.  This was a major disadvantage for him and for us as a considerable amount of effort had to go into researching the position.

This was a second marriage for our client and a third marriage for his spouse.  They had been together for some 15 years.  Over this time the spouse had not worked a great deal.  Our client had worked continuously and conscientiously throughout the fifteen years and contributed all his income to the joint pool of finances.  Through those joint pool of finances various investment properties had been acquired.

It also transpired that recently the wife had formed a family trust and had transferred the ownership of the investment properties into the Trust. She claimed them as her separate property.  

Property (Relationships) Act Proceedings were issued to compel her to provide information about all aspects of the financial arrangements concerning the various properties and all assets.  Our advice to our client was that the provisions of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 should protect him in all of the circumstances because of the way in which their relationship had continued over the fifteen years of the marriage, because of the apparent manipulation by the spouse of the financial position, and because of the lateness of forming the family trust by the spouse.