How can family violence affect property orders?

Family violence can affect a property settlement. How it does so in Western Australia depends on whether you were married or in a de facto relationship, because the two are decided under different laws. The law for married couples changed on 10 June 2025. The law for WA de facto couples did not.

What counts as family violence

Family violence is not limited to physical assault. The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) defines it in s 4AB as violent, threatening or other behaviour that coerces or controls a family member, or causes them to be fearful. The examples in the Act include:

(a) assault, sexual assault and stalking;

(b) repeated derogatory taunts;

(c) unreasonably denying a person financial autonomy, or withholding the money they need for reasonable living expenses;

(d) isolating a person from family and friends, and damaging property or harming animals.

The Family Court Act 1997 (WA) has its own definition in s 9A, in similar terms. Both Acts say these examples may be family violence, and both include financial control, such as being kept from the family's money or denied support for living expenses. The federal Act also gives the example of being forced to take on debts.

Married couples: family violence is now written into the law

All married couples in WA have their property decided by the Family Court of Western Australia under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). Since 10 June 2025, s 79 sets out the steps the court follows. The court:

(a) identifies the existing legal and equitable interests in property, and the liabilities, of both people;

(b) considers each person's contributions, financial and non-financial, including as homemaker and parent;

(c) considers each person's current and future circumstances, such as health, income, earning capacity and the care of children;

(d) asks whether the result is just and equitable.

Family violence now appears at two of those steps. Section 79(4)(ca) requires the court to consider the effect of family violence on a person's ability to make contributions. Section 79(5)(a) requires it to consider the effect of family violence on a person's current and future circumstances. That second step reaches the economic effect of the violence after the relationship ends: lost work, reduced earning capacity, the cost of treatment, or the need to move and start again.

The same changes apply to de facto couples in the other States and Territories under s 90SM. They do not apply to de facto couples in WA.

WA de facto couples: the older approach still applies

A WA de facto couple's property is decided under Part 5A of the Family Court Act 1997 (WA). Western Australia has not copied the 2025 property reforms. As at the current version of the WA Act (read 27 October 2026), s 205ZG still sets out contributions and future needs in the older form, and neither s 205ZG nor the maintenance factors in s 205ZD mention family violence.

That does not mean family violence is irrelevant. Before 2025, the courts had already developed a way to take it into account. In Kennon and Kennon [1997] FamCA 27, the Full Court of the Family Court held that violence can be considered when assessing contributions where:

(a) there was a course of violent conduct during the relationship; and

(b) it had a significant adverse effect on the other person's contributions, or made those contributions significantly more arduous than they should have been.

That approach remains the route for a WA de facto partner. It is not a separate claim for compensation, and the WA Act has no express family violence factor. The effect of violence on a person's health or earning capacity can still be weighed among the general future-needs factors in s 205ZD. The court weighs the harder contributions together with everything else.

What you need to show

In either case, the court is concerned with the effect of the violence, not with punishing it. Proving that violence happened is not enough on its own. You need evidence of how it affected your contributions during the relationship, or your position now. Useful evidence can include:

(a) medical and counselling records;

(b) police reports and any family violence restraining order;

(c) records showing who controlled the bank accounts and spending;

(d) evidence of lost work, lost income or a reduced capacity to work.

Your own account, given on affidavit, is evidence too. The court can act on it, although corroboration helps.

Before you negotiate

Family violence affects how a settlement should be reached as well as what it should be. Mediation may not be safe or appropriate, and an agreement signed under pressure can be set aside later. If you are in danger now, call the police on 000. 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) gives confidential support at any hour.

If you are separating from a violent partner, get advice on the property side early, and tell your lawyer about the violence at the start so they can plan the process around your safety.

This article is general information, not legal advice.