Disclosure

Under the Family Law Act 1975 when couples separate whether married or de facto they have an ongoing obligation of full and frank disclosure. Disclosure is also crucial to a successful mediation.

You need to know:

• What you both own (assets);

• What you both owe (liabilities)

• Your superannuation balances.

Why? Well this information assists in a reaching agreed Balance Sheet or it may highlight the steps the parties may agree need to be undertaken before the balance sheet can be settled. For example, if parties can’t agree on the value of their family home and one party wants to keep the house, they may agree to a joint valuation being prepared before attending the mediation itself.

Disclosure difficulties

However experience shows us that disclosure can often be incredibly overwhelming for various reasons including:

• Its life admin and lets face it you either love it or avoid it at all costs.

• It requires you to be organized including know all your login details and passwords.

• You may not have access to some of the information or know how to access the information you do need.

• It is time consuming and require time to be set aside.

So we wanted to put together a free guide with our best tips and tricks for collating your family law disclosure.

This is in no way legal advice (you should always obtain legal advice in respect of how disclosure applies).

How to Guide:

1.Tax Returns

You are required under your obligations of disclosure to provide the last 3 financial years tax returns as part of the disclosure process when going through a separation.

If you aren’t versed in the household finances or assigned with the life admin label, you may find this overwhelming. But don’t stress, Olive is here to assist.

You can download a copy by logging into the ATO portal from your Mygov account and following these steps:

• Sign in to my gov

• Click on the Australian Tax Office

• Click on “Manage Tax Returns”

• Click on the “History” tab

• Each tax year is listed here then click on “View Details” link.

• This is your tax return, you can scroll to bottom of the screen

• and it says “print-friendly version”, click this and and save it.

2. Notice of Assessment

You are required under your obligations of disclosure to provide the last 3 financial years Notice of Assessments.

If you do not have a copy, you can download a copy by logging into the ATO portal from your Mygov account and following these steps:

• Sign in to my gov

• Click on the Australian Tax Office

• Click on “Manage Tax Returns”

• Click on the “History” tab

• Each tax year is listed here then click on the “Notice of Assessment” link and save it.

3. Payslips

You are required under your obligations of disclosure to provide the last 3 payslips.

These are usually sent to your by your employer or you may have a system at work where you can download your payslips.

4. Bank Statements

Please provide 3 years of every statement you have received for every account that you hold.

We realize this may mean 36 statements (12 statements for each year) for each account but we do need the full 3-year record.

Your bank will be able to assist if you do not have three years of records online. If you have held an account for less than three years, please let us know so we don’t request further statements from you for that account.

Please save the documents in the folder named “4. Savings Accounts” and name them eg CBA Savings March 2023, CBA Savings April 2023, etc.

5. Credit Cards

As with the bank statements above, we will need 3 years of statement you have received for every credit card you hold.

We realize this may mean 36 statements (12 statements for each year) for each account but we do need the full 3 year record.

Your bank will be able to assist if you do not have three years of records online. If you have held an account for less than three years, please let us know so we don’t request further statements

from you.

Please save the documents in the folder named “5. Credit Cards” and name them eg Latitude Credit Card March 2023,Latitude Credit Card April 2023 etc.

6. Loans

As with the bank statements above, we will need 3 years of statements you have received for every loan you hold (eg home loans, car loans, personal loans).

We realize this may mean 36 statements (12 statements for each year) for each account but we do need the full three year record.

Your bank will be able to assist if you do not have three years of records for each account online. If you have held an account for less than three years, please let us know so we don’t request further statements from you.

Please save the documents in the folder named “6. Loan Accounts” and name them eg ING Home Loan March 2023, ING Home Loan April 2023, St George Personal Loan March 2023, etc.

7. Hire Purchase/Leases

This may be a house lease or a car lease agreement, please ensure all pages are provided (not just the cover page of the agreement).

Please save the documents in the folder named “7. Hire or Lease Agreements” and name them eg Hire Agreement for Kia Sorrento dated 3 April 2023, etc.

8. Employment Contracts

Please provide a copy of your employment contract with your current employer, if applicable.

If you do not have a copy, please ask for this from your employer as soon as possible.

Please save the documents in the folder named “8. Employment Contract” and name them eg Employment Contract with Service NSW dated 3 February 1997.

9. Long Service Leave

This will only be relevant if you have 7 years of long service leave (LSL) accrued. If you do not, please advise us so we do not chase this from you.

If you do have LSL accrued, you will need to show how much you have accrued by way of pay slips that show your LSL entitlements (one pay slip covering the date of separation and then your most recent pay slip).

If you have LSL but it is not detailed on your pay slips, you will need to request a statement from your employer advising how much LSL you had at the date of separation from your partner and how much you currently have now.

Please save the documents in the folder named “9. Long Service Leave” and name them eg Payslip at date of separation 22 November 2022 and Current Payslip dated 3 May 2023.

10. Superannuation

You will need to provide your most recent annual statement from your super fund as well as a screenshot of your current super balance as at today’s date. Both the statement and the current balance can be found by logging in to your online super account.

Please save the documents in the folder named “10. Superannuation” and name them eg “Aware Super Annual Statement June 2022” and “Aware Super Current Balance”.

11. Market Appraisals

You may or may not hold an appraisal for a property you own.

This is not essential to have initially but it will be important to obtain an appraisal or property valuation so that the parties have an independent guide on the value of any property you hold.

12. Other assets

This type of asset can be varied - from cryptocurrency to a family heirloom or a family trust which has its own assets. Please advise us if you own such an asset and we can let you know what documents to provide.

Once you know what documents you need to provide, please save the documents in the folder named “12. Asset Details” and name them accordingly.

13. Motor Vehicles etc.

The easiest way to get an appraisal for any road vehicle you own is to use redbook.com.au and purchase a PDF valuation report for each vehicle (the cost is $33 plus GST per report).

For other types of vehicles, please contact us and we can assist you in the best way to get a valuation.

Please save the documents in the folder named “13. Vehicle Valuations” and name them eg “Kia Carnival Redbook” or “Toyota Hilux Redbook”.

14. Registration Papers

It is essential that you provide a clear copy of the “Certificate of Registration” for each vehicle as this document lists who the registered owner of the vehicle is.

If you have misplaced this document, you can request a copy from Service NSW here.

Please save the documents in the folder named “14. Vehicle Registrations” and name them eg “Kia Carnival Rego papers” or “Toyota Hilux Rego Papers”.

15. Business

If you own a business, you need a copy of the financial statements as detailed above for the past 3 years (or if you business has been operating for less than three years, please advise us).

If you are registered for GST, we also need the BAS for the last 4 quarters (12 months).

Please save the documents in the folder named “15. Business Details” and name them eg “Your Business Name Financials 2020” or “Your Business Name BAS April to June 2022”.

16. Other

If you think you have other disclosure that is relevant such as historical valuations, inheritances, loans or contributions made by either party during the relationship, you can upload that information in this folder and we can then go through and determine if it is relevant or not for this stage.

17. Contributions

Contributions can be very important in family law property settlements.

Please think about and provide any information or documents you may have about the following:

• Initial Contributions (what you brought into the relationship).

• Contributions during (financial and non financial)

• Contributions from third parties (inheritance, gifts, redundancy)

• Contributions- post separation.

If you don’t have any document evidence, you can upload a word document outlining the above and your lawyer can discuss further with you in our disclosure meeting.

Book a free 15-minute consultation on our website: www.olivemediation.com.au.

Contact Olive Mediation today to learn more about how we can support you and your family.