PART 1: Duty of Disclosure in Family Law Separations - 5 Part Series

What does duty of disclosure mean?

All parties in a family law separation must provide to the other party by way of their duty of disclosure all information relevant to an issue in their case. This includes information that the other party may have no knowledge of. The duty of disclosure continues until the matter is finalised.

Parties must continue to disclose all such information throughout the matter as their situation changes or more documents are created or come into their possession, power, or control. For instance, when you receive a new bank statement, a settlement statement for the sale of property, or a distribution statement for an inheritance.

In a Financial Property Settlement

In financial matters there are specific rules about full and frank disclosure. Each party must disclose their total direct and indirect financial circumstances.

This means disclosing all sources of earnings such as your income, interest, child support payments, centrelink benefits, rental income, any income received from trusts, businesses or companies, and any other financial resources.

Each party must disclose full details of all assets and liabilities held in their names either solely, in joint names with another person, or in the name of any company or trust in which they have an interest.

Our next article will detail the types of financial documents a party may be required to disclose.