Carevic & Carevic [2023] FedCFamC2F 524

Carevic & Carevic [2023] FedCFamC2F 524

Background Details

• Type: Marriage
• Duration: Married in 1983. The wife said they separated in 2019 and the husband said 2009. The court found that, despite several separations and reconciliations, final separation did not occur until 2019, making a marriage of about 36 years.
• Ages: Husband 65 years, Wife 58 years.

Children

• Children from Relationship: Three adult children, namely Ms G (born 1987), Mr H (born 1988), and Mr J (born 1996).

Initial Financial Positions

• At the commencement of the marriage in 1983, neither party had significant assets and both were working. The wife worked as a register operator until their first child was born and remained involved in family businesses.

Contributions During the Relationship

• Financial Contributions:

  • The husband contributed through physical work on properties owned by the parties, notably the construction of homes as owner-builders at properties purchased in Suburb L, and Suburb C.
  • The wife’s involvement in family businesses included administrative and managerial roles, especially between 2002–2008, complementing the husband's physical labour.
  • Disputed claims over dissipation of assets: the wife said the husband gambled money away, and the husband said the wife had secretly kept $750,000 or more. The court found the husband had not established that the wife kept any money.
  • The husband denied being a "gambler" while admitting he sometimes gambled tens of thousands of dollars over a few days.
  • The wife contributed at least $30,950, and more likely over $50,000, towards the loans on the Suburb C property, plus household running costs.

• Non-financial Contributions:

  • The wife was the primary homemaker and caretaker for the children and supported the family during times of difficulty, including domestic violence situations.

Post-Separation Contributions and Actions

• Dissipation of Assets: The wife identified over $300,000 withdrawn by the husband from 2013 onwards and not accounted for. The court inferred that at least many tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands, were used by the husband for his own purposes and in all likelihood gambled away, and treated this as a negative contribution.

Current Financial Position & Property Pool

• Current Assets and Debts:
  • About $2,750,000 held in a controlled moneys account from the sale of the Suburb C property (held in the husband's name), which sold for more than $4,000,000 with a debt of $967,743 against it.
  • Total net assets, including vehicles, accounts, the wife's business and superannuation, less debts: $2,882,023.

Assessment of Contributions and Future Needs

• Contributions:

  • Assessed as 58% to the wife and 42% to the husband. But for the husband's negative contributions through gambling and waste, and the Kennon finding that family violence made the wife's contributions more arduous, contributions over the marriage would otherwise have been equal.

• Future Needs Adjustments:

  • No additional adjustment for future needs due to both parties having earning capacity and employable skills despite some health issues.

• Final Division:

  • The property settlement was a 58/42 split in favour of the wife, with monetary valuations finalising at $1,671,573 to the wife and $1,210,450 to the husband.

Unique Aspects

• The case involved significant volatility marked by claims of financial mismanagement, including accusations of hidden funds and gambling losses.
• The court found family violence by the husband (the wife sought refuge several times) and that it made the wife's contributions more arduous, which was taken into account under the Kennon principle within the contributions assessment.
• Unique proposition of conflicting separation dates, impacting the court’s assessment of contributions and subsequent division of assets.

Main Takeaways

• Family violence that made a party's contributions more arduous can increase that party's contribution-based entitlement.
• The husband's unexplained withdrawals and likely gambling were counted against him.
• An accusation of hidden money needs evidence; the husband's was rejected.

The law since this decision

This case was decided before 10 June 2025. From that date the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) sets out the steps for a property settlement in s 79(3) to (5), and the court must consider the effect of family violence on each party's contributions (s 79(4)(ca)) and on their current and future circumstances (s 79(5)(a)), and any material wastage of property (s 79(5)(d)). In Western Australia, a property case between married couples is decided under that Act in the Family Court of Western Australia. A case between de facto partners in Western Australia is decided under the Family Court Act 1997 (WA), which has not adopted those 2025 changes.