Interesting research on property divisions by agreement

Last month some research was released by the Australian Institute of Family Studies into just how parties finalise their property settlements - and it looks as though the stereotype that couples fight endlessly over property settlements is not borne out by the data.

The Institute conducted a study involving 9000 separated people from around Australia and found:

The average value of assets being divided was about $261,000.

• 1 in 4 of the couples had no assets to divide
• 1 in 3 had $40,000 or less in assets

Around half of the couples had finalised their property division within a year of separation.

• 4 in 10 of the couples with assets of $500,000 or more took on average two years to finalise their property settlement
• 1 in 3 of the couples with assets of less than $40,000 resolved their property division at the time of separation

According to the co-author of the research, Dr Rae Kaspiew, the majority of couples resolved their property settlement without using the Courts.

Dr Lixia Qu, the co-author of the research, said that about 60% of the couples thought the property settlement was fair. Fairness tended to relate to perceptions about the importance and value given to roles (financial and non-financial) undertaken during the relationship.

Both men and women underestimated their own share of the property division - women reported they received about 50% of the assets while men said they got about 37%.

The most common reason given be respondents for accepting a settlement was wanting to move on. About 33% of those who believed that they had received an unfair settlement saying they agreed to it in order to “get things over with”.