Divorce or De Facto Separation: When to Get Financial Advice
Whether you're ending a marriage or a de facto relationship, there are many emotions and logistics to navigate, especially if kids are involved.
In 2025, 49,158 Australian couples were granted a divorce. The median length of those marriages was 13.4 years. This data doesn't include the many de facto couples who separate each year and face the same money and legal decisions.
When a long-term relationship ends, there is a lot of shared life to untangle. The family home. The mortgage. Two lots of super. The retirement you'd pictured together.
It’s why getting advice as soon as possible from the right qualified professionals will help you avoid costly mistakes and build a plan for the life you want next.
To make a claim on property or super, you generally need to have lived together for at least two years. There are some exceptions, such as when you have a child together. You have two years from the date you separate to apply.
Learn more from the Family Court of WAWho does what: your lawyer and your financial adviser
Your lawyer looks after the legal side. A financial adviser helps you understand and weigh up the money decisions in front of you, and build a plan for life after the settlement.
Dividing up what you own is only one part of the money side. The bigger part is making sure you both come out of it with somewhere to live, enough to live on, and a secure future.
- Explains your legal rights
- Handles financial disclosure (both sides showing their cards)
- Talks through settlement options and parenting arrangements
- Documents the agreement: consent orders, a Financial Agreement or court orders
- Explains what different settlement options mean for your money
- Maps out cash flow as one household becomes two
- Weighs up renting versus buying a home with a mortgage on one income
- Looks at super, insurance, investment and retirement considerations
IMPORTANT: Once you separate, a financial adviser can only advise one of you. Your interests aren't the same anymore, and advice has to be on your side, not trying to balance two. So if you've been seeing an adviser as a couple, only one of you can stay on with the adviser. The other will need an adviser of their own.
When financial advice helps: before, during and after
Most people think financial advice comes at the very end, once the dust has settled. In reality, it helps most when it runs alongside the whole process.
Before and during separation
The earlier you get advice, the clearer your head when the big decisions land. Think of your adviser as a calm voice away from the drama.
While you're separating, financial advice can help you:
Get a clear picture of what you've got: assets, debts, income, spending, super, investments and insurance
Work out the short-term pressures, like running two households on the same money
Sort out joint bank accounts, direct debits, credit cards and the mortgage
Gather the financial records your lawyer, mediator or accountant will ask for
Build a list of money questions to raise with your lawyer
Understand how different settlement outcomes might affect your retirement, housing and lifestyle
You go into negotiations knowing what the numbers mean for you. That's worth a lot when emotions are running high.
After settlement
Once your property settlement is agreed and legally documented, the "maybes" become facts.
Before that point, planning your future is like packing for a holiday when you don't know the destination. You end up with a suitcase full of the wrong clothes.
After settlement, we know exactly what you're keeping: the assets, the debts, the income, the super. Now you can build a financial plan for your future. What your cash flow will look like. Where you'll live. How much you can save for holidays, big ticket purchases and retirement.
And beyond
Life after separation keeps evolving. A new home, a new routine, maybe a new partner down the track. Your advice should keep up with it.
When financial advice helps
The big decisions: dollars, debts and dwellings
The family home
For most couples, the house is the biggest asset and the hardest decision. There are three main options.
One of you keeps the family home and buys the other out. You pay your ex their share of the equity, usually by refinancing the mortgage into your name. Take a Perth home at the median value of about $955,000 with $300,000 still owing. Buying out your ex's half could mean taking on a loan of around $600,000 on your own. The home has to be affordable on one income: repayments, rates, insurance and maintenance, with room left to build your retirement.
Sell it and split the proceeds. It's a clean break, but half the equity often buys a deposit, not a house. Using the same example, after sale costs you'd each walk away with roughly $310,000. Buying a median-priced Perth home from there means borrowing well over $600,000 on one income. For comparison, the average new owner-occupier loan in WA is $720,000, and most of those are taken out by couples.
Keep it and rent it out. This can buy time in a rising market, and rent can cover some of the mortgage. But you're both still tied to the loan and to each other, and you each still need somewhere to live. Once it stops being your home, capital gains tax can also start to build up.
Some couples also agree to hold off selling until a set point, like when the kids finish school. Whatever you choose, work out the numbers before you decide.
Loans and debts
A settlement doesn't change who the bank can chase. If your name is on a joint loan, you stay responsible for it until the lender formally releases you. Moving out doesn't change that, and neither does a settlement document on its own. If your ex misses a repayment, the bank can come to you, and your credit file can take the hit.
The same goes for joint credit cards, car loans and personal loans. Refinancing into one name needs lender approval, and the lender will look at your income, your age and your other debts.
Super
Super is treated as property in a separation. It can be valued and split under a formal agreement or court order, and in WA that applies to both married and de facto couples. That matters most if one of you stepped back from work to raise kids and has a smaller balance because of it.
If either of you is with GESB, especially an older defined benefit scheme like Gold State Super, valuing it can be tricky. That's one of our specialities.
Cash
You can't pay a removalist in bricks. Separation brings a wave of costs: legal fees, bond and rent, furniture, moving, and the everyday bills of a second household.
A settlement that's heavy on property and super but light on cash can leave you asset-rich and cash-poor, right when you need breathing room. Make sure the split leaves you enough to live on while things settle.
Investments and tax
Shares, investment properties, businesses and trusts all need to be divided too. The trap is that the same value on paper can be worth very different amounts after tax.
A $500,000 family home is generally free of capital gains tax when you sell it. A $500,000 investment property isn't. If it's grown in value, selling it later could mean a tax bill in the tens of thousands.
A CGT rollover for relationship breakdown can apply when assets move between you under a formal agreement or court order. But it usually delays the tax rather than removing it. Whoever takes the asset takes the future tax bill with it.
Insurance
Separation can leave gaps in your cover. Policies are often owned by one of you, cover both of you, or sit inside super. Check who owns each policy, who's covered, and who gets paid if something happens.
On one income, your cover matters more, not less. If you're now the only earner in your household, think about life, income protection and trauma cover. Our personal insurance guide walks you through the types of cover.
Estate planning
Separating doesn't cancel your will. Until you update it, an old will may still leave everything to your ex.
Divorce doesn't cancel a binding super nomination either. If your ex is still named, they could receive your super and any life insurance inside it. We covered this in Is your super going to the right person?
If your partner is your enduring power of attorney or guardian, think about whether that still suits you. Talk to your lawyer about the right timing for each change.
Separation or divorceThe financial decisions
Look after you, too
Separation is hard, even when it's amicable.
Talk to your family and friends. See your GP. A counsellor or psychologist can help you work through the big feelings, so they don't end up making the big money decisions for you. Relationships Australia WA offers counselling and family dispute resolution. If you need to talk to someone right now, Lifeline is there 24/7 on 13 11 14. And if you don't feel safe at home, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
The bottom line
Get legal and financial advice early, and keep getting financial advice after your settlement is done. The earlier you understand the numbers, the better the decisions you'll make, now and for the next 20 years.
Based in Perth, Firefly Financial provides financial planning for Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, the quiet achievers and the life lovers. Book a chat.
Frequently Asked Questions
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As early as possible, and again after settlement. Advice before and during separation helps you get organised, manage short-term cash flow and understand what different settlement outcomes mean for you. Once your property settlement is agreed and legally documented, advice can focus on the assets, debts, income and super you'll actually keep.
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No. Once you separate, a financial adviser can only advise one of you, because your interests are no longer the same and the advice has to be on your side. If you've been seeing an adviser as a couple, one of you can stay on and the other will need their own adviser. Your family lawyers will also act for each of you separately.
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No. A financial adviser can't give legal advice or decide whether a settlement is legally fair, which is your family lawyer's role. What an adviser can do is show you the financial impact of a proposed settlement, such as whether you can afford the home, how much cash you'll have, and what it means for your retirement.
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Possibly, if you can afford to run it and the bank approves the loan in your name. You'll need to cover repayments, rates, insurance, maintenance and utilities on one income while still building your retirement savings. Refinancing depends on lender approval, so it's worth checking your borrowing power before agreeing to a settlement that relies on it.
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Super is treated as property and can be valued and split under a formal agreement or court order. In WA, married and de facto couples deal with the Family Court of Western Australia. The split amount generally stays in super and can't be accessed as cash until you meet a condition of release, such as retiring after reaching preservation age.
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Often not at the time of transfer, if a relationship breakdown rollover applies. The rollover can apply when assets move between spouses under a formal agreement or court order. But it usually defers the tax rather than removing it, so the person receiving the asset may face capital gains tax when they sell it later. Get tax advice before agreeing to a split.
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Yes, until the lender formally releases you. Moving out or signing a settlement doesn't automatically remove your name from a joint mortgage or loan. If repayments are missed, the lender can pursue either borrower and your credit file can be affected. Talk to your lawyer and lender about refinancing or formally removing your name.
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Yes. Married couples generally have 12 months from the date the divorce becomes final to apply for property orders, and de facto couples generally have two years from separation. Applying outside these limits needs the court's permission. A family lawyer can confirm the deadline that applies to you.
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This information is current as at 29 September 2026.
Kalfocus Pty Ltd AR No. 463978 is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Firefly Financial Pty Ltd AFSL No. 700033, ABN 88 687 477 612. General Advice Warning: Any advice in this article is general advice only and does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. It does not represent legal, tax, or personal advice and should not be relied on as such. You should obtain financial advice relevant to your circumstances before making any decisions.