Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
Can’t afford to separate or can’t afford not to?
The cost of living is making running a household almost impossible so why get stuck running two.
People going through a relationship breakdown face many uncertainties.
What’s next, what happened, why did it happen, when can I take the next step, what even is the next step, where are the kids going to live, where am I going to live, and how am I going to pay for it?
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
What’s next, what happened why did it happen, where am I going to live and how am I going to pay for it?
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
With the cost of living so out of control and the Reserve Bank determined to destroy us all, the question of how am I going to pay for it is the most difficult one to answer leaving many people in a catch 22 – can’t afford to separate and can’t afford not to.
But luckily it doesn’t actually have to be a nightmare and if you make some wise choices about your separation it can cost you about the same as one months mortgage repayments and take as little as 8 weeks.
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
For a free no obligation 15 minute What’s Next chat click this link
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
As anyone who has been through it will tell you, the breakdown of a relationship is an emotional rollercoaster. What people don’t talk about is the financial rollercoaster which provides the biggest thrill-ride, especially at the moment.
The average mortgage repayment as a percentage of income has gone from 37% to 42.5%, rent has increased by 22% in the last two years – by far the largest increase in the country – and the general cost of living is out of control. Any one of those things is enough to cause significant stress but if you also find yourself going through a separation and living in two separate houses you could easily be hit with all of them, and all at once. As a couple who are still legally financially joined your combined resources could have to stretch to cover all of those things. You could find yourselves having to cover rent, a mortgage and running two households at the same time. With the cost of each one of them consistently increasing.
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
If you make some wise choices about your separation it can cost you about the same as one months mortgage repayments.
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank
And compounding that financial stress is the time and cost of the traditional court system. Couples who opt for a traditional court based legal fight are looking at a three year wait for a decision and multiple tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs. And unfortunately while you wait for that court decision you are in limbo. Possibly unable to sell your house or refinance it and unable to avoid having to pay rent while everyone still has to eat. Imagine what rents, mortgage repayments and food for two houses will cost in three years.
And at the moment many people are telling us they are stuck in this exact situation. Can’t afford to separate and can’t afford not to.
can’t afford to separate and can’t afford not to.
they spent $600,000 and 7 years only for the ex to offer a worse deal than they were offered way back in the beginning.
can’t afford to separate and can’t afford not to.
But there is way to legally separate for a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time meaning you can afford to financially separate and get off the financial hamster wheel. Sound too good to be true, it’s not really and it’s not even that unusual.
By far the majority of people going through a separation – around 95% – come to an agreement on what is known as “the court steps”. What that means is people negotiate a solution in the last few days before their final court date. The upside is you avoid that final court hearing but the downside – and it’s a huge downside – is you have spent a fortune on lawyers to get an agreement you could have had three years ago. I was talking to someone at a party the other day who told me they spent $600,000 and 7 years in court only for their ex to propose a deal which got the ex less than the storyteller had offered way back in the beginning. Sadly, not an unusual story but it’s a story you can avoid.
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
So what you can do is go straight to the agreement and avoid all the time and cost of prepping for a court appearance you will never get to.
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
So what do I do instead?
What you can do is go straight to the agreement and avoid all the time and cost of prepping for a court appearance you may never get to. Consent orders are a property division you help to negotiate outside of court and are in fact exactly what you would get if you came to an agreement on “the court steps”. And the best bit is once you have negotiated and agreed, your consent orders are submitted to the court for approval so they even have the backing of the court system without you actually having to go to court.
If it’s that easy why doesn’t everyone do it?
Mostly it’s because the legal system in Australia is an adversarial one. It is all built around having a fight so the first thing that happens is everyone gets a lawyer, the lawyer’s file in the Family Court, everyone rallies the troops and bunkers down, communication stops and we are off on our three year journey. No-one looks for a solution because that is not what the legal system does. It’s no-ones fault it just is what it is.
But how do consent orders work?
It’s actually a pretty simple process which works best with a collaborative lawyer because a collaborative lawyer looks for ways to avoid the fight, which keeps the emotional, financial and time cost low. For many people their first reaction is to keep lawyer’s out of it, but what you should actually be thinking is, who is the right lawyer. Having the right lawyer means you and your ex can find agreement at arm’s length, minimising the big emotions while still giving you the reassurance, confidence and protection of good legal advice.
Step 1:
The first step is to meet with you and talk about what you think you will need for your future, what is most important to you and strategies for negotiating to achieve those goals.
Step 2:
We then collect all of your financial details. These are used to work out some options to divide your asset pool and will form the basis of our negotiations with your ex.
Step 3:
At this point there is usually a little back and forth as we all work out the best way to divide your assets. Some of the more common options are keeping or selling the family home, can you or do you want to refinance, who gets what if you choose to sell, does your combined superannuation need to be be split, are there any special things one of you wants to keep, and who and how will the kids be paid for.
Step 4:
Once you have an agreement – which in our experience usually doesn’t take that long – we will draft the necessary documents which you both sign. Those documents are submitted to the Family Court for approval. We also approach your superannuation funds if it’s necessary.
Step 5:
The court will then approve your orders – in our experience it is rare that they don’t – and you will have legally binding consent orders for a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time of a traditional court process.
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To book your initial consult and get the ball rolling click here
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
By far the biggest plus of choosing this process is, if you can negotiate in good faith, keep the emotion out of it and allow your lawyer to guide you, consent orders can be done in 8 weeks and for as little as $6,000. A little more than one average monthly mortgage repayment. We know this to be true because at BrightSide we have been using this process for 9 years and we have already helped many families. We know it works, we know it helps people and we know it will save you a lot of stress and a lot of money.
So if you are asking the question the answer is yes, you can afford to separate so long as you make the right decisions about how you go about it.
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
For help with your separation or parenting issues or to talk about payment plans and options click this link.
Getting separated doesn’t have to break the bank.
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Susan Hewitt is the Principal at Bright Side Family Law, a non-litigious family law and mediation practice. Susan has worked as a lawyer and journalist for almost 30 years. She is an accredited collaborative lawyer and FDRP mediator who is committed to helping families through their relationship breakdown in an honest, cooperative and respectful manner.
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