Property Misconceptions

It's a common misconception that section 10J of the Family Law Act provides for the inadmissibility - what is said in Property mediation cannot be used in court proceedings.

I thought the same, until I read the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) Family Law Review in 2019, and its recommendations that says:

• Recommendation 24 Sections 10H and 10J of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), which provide for confidentiality and inadmissibility of discussions and material in Family Dispute Resolution in relation to parenting matters, should be extended to Family Dispute Resolution for property and financial matters. The legislation should provide an exception for a sworn statement in relation to income, assets, superannuation balances, and liabilities that each party signs at the start of Family Dispute Resolution, which should be admissible. ... (Page 18) 

A Simplified Approach to Property Division

The report also reccomented "A Simplified Approach to Property Division". Some of those reccomendations from that report include:

• Recommendation 12 The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) should be amended to include a presumption of equality of contributions during the relationship.
• Recommendation 13 The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) should be amended to provide that the relevant date to ascertain the value of the parties’ rights, interests, and liabilities in any property is the date of separation, unless the interests of justice require otherwise.
• Recommendation 16 The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) should be amended to provide a presumption that the value of superannuation assets accumulated during a relationship are to be split evenly between the parties.
• Recommendation 19 The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) should be amended to include a statutory tort of family violence that would provide remedies consistent with existing common law remedies.

While some of the 60 reccomendations from the report were implimented with the Family Law Central Practice Direction in 2021. There is little that will change with the 10 June amendments in terms of property settlement. You can read the ALRC Family Law Review here,  alrc_report_135_final_report_web-min_12_optimized_1-1.pdf