Q. We're getting divorced. Who will get the house?
A. If you and your partner don't agree on the distribution of assets, or who keeps the house, the Court will be asked to make a judgement. The judge will apply a test of fairness. There are no set rules as to who receives which assets. The Judge will decide according to a number of factors, for example, the parties earning capacity, their ages, the parties health, if the couple have children, what's best for them etc. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that the parent with everyday care of the children will keep the house. Courts will also take into account the fact that the non-resident parent might need somewhere large enough to allow them to have the children to stay overnight.

Q. Am I entitled to a share of my spouse’s pension?
A. Yes, a pension is a marital asset and therefore can form part of the financial settlement.  The court can deal with pension claims by offsetting the pension claim against the other available assets (eg giving the other party a larger percentage of another asset such as the house), a pension sharing order which will divide the pension between the parties or a pension attachment order whereby the pension trustee is advised that the non pension member spouse has an interest in the fund, which will be realisable on the pension member’s retirement/death.

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