Dieu & Dieu [2023] FedCFamC2F 547

Dieu & Dieu [2023] FedCFamC2F 547

Relationship Details

• Type: Marriage
• Duration: The couple lived together from 1998, married in 1999, separated on 21 March 2017, and divorced on 28 April 2020: about 19 years together, about 18 of them married.
• Ages at Judgment: Husband 52, Wife 51

Children

• Children from Relationship: Two adult children, aged 22 and 18.
• Children from Previous Relationships: None mentioned.

Initial Financial Positions

• Husband:
  • B Street property purchased in 1997 for $190,000 with $60,000 from his savings and a $130,000 mortgage.
• Wife:
  • Lived with parents and worked full-time, described as having significant savings, although unquantified.

Contributions During the Relationship

• Financial Contributions:

  • Both parties worked full-time.
  • Husband purchased B Street property before the relationship began.
  • They equally contributed to the purchase of D Street property.
  • J Street property bought in 2010; parties argued over contributions and expenses.

• Non-financial Contributions:

  • Both contributed to household and child-rearing responsibilities.

Post-Separation Contributions and Actions

• Financial Contributions:

  • Husband paid various property-related expenses post-separation.
  • Wife claimed no child or financial support from the husband post-separation.

• Non-financial Contributions:

  • Wife became the sole caregiver of the children post-separation.

• Dissipation of Assets:

  • The husband redrew $80,000 from the joint ANZ mortgage account in September 2018, and the wife withdrew $36,800 from a joint account. Both sums were notionally added back to the pool.
  • The husband collected rents from the properties without accounting for them to the wife.

Current Financial Position & Property Pool

• Husband:

  • B Street property valued at $1,475,000 and sole ownership.
  • Contentions over accurate disclosure of financial accounts.

• Wife:

  • Assets include $5,008 in one account and $2,316 in another.

• Property Pool:

  • Total property pool consists of $4,001,607 (including both parties' combined assets and liabilities).

Assessment of Contributions and Future Needs

• Contributions:

  • Contributions assessed as equal despite the husband’s initial ownership of B Street property.

• Future Needs Adjustments:

  • A 2.5% adjustment ($100,040) was made in the wife's favour, chiefly because of the husband's failure to give full and frank disclosure and his handling of the properties and rents after separation.
  • Final division resulted in the wife receiving 52.5% ($2,100,844) of the net property and the husband 47.5%. The wife keeps the D Street property and receives $240,966 from the husband, and the husband keeps the B Street property.

Unique Aspects and Factors Affecting Decisions

• The wife alleged family violence and argued that it made her contributions more arduous, but that claim failed because there was no evidence of how her contributions were affected.
• Husband's failure to adequately disclose financial status led to adjustments against him.
• The husband's proposition that the wife should take ownership of B Street for capital gains reasons was rejected due to no supporting evidence or agreement during prior proceedings.

Summary

The case underscores the importance of evidence and full disclosure. Contributions were assessed as equal, and the adjustment to the wife reflected the husband's failure to disclose his finances and his conduct with the properties after separation.

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.