The Court has wide powers to divide the property fairly. No two cases are the same and each partner should get independent legal advice from a lawyer who specialises in family law property cases.

There is no rule that property will be equally divided. A partner will not necessarily get half of everything or be able to keep those things in their name that they paid for. Rather, the Court considers the circumstances of each family and tries to do what is fair. The marriage or de facto relationship is not regarded as a way of equalising the property between the parties, as it might in a 'community property' jurisdiction, and on separation the Court's aim is to leave each party with a fair share having regard to their contributions, and their needs and responsibilities in the future, to the extent that the available property permits this.

The Court goes through a 4 step process when it is making its decision; first, identifying and valuing the property between the parties; next, considering the respective contributions of each party towards the property and the welfare of the family; then considering the current and future needs of each party; before finally considering whether the proposed property settlement is just and equitable. These steps are set out in more detail at the beginning of this section under Dividing property.