Watch the short video below in which Adele Katzew explains these two common forms of family law agreements. Adele is an Accredited Specialist Family Lawyer and now serves as a member of the Family Law Specialisation Advisory Committee for the Law Institute of Victoria, which is responsible for examining candidates for specialisation in Family Law.
Binding Financial Agreements
A binding financial agreement is a legally enforceable agreement that sets out how a couple's assets will be dealt with in the event that they separate.
A binding financial agreement can be made either before, during, or after a relationship. When making a binding financial agreement, there is no level of court oversight. Both parties must have independent legal advice.
A binding financial agreement can relate to all of the parties assets and liabilities, or it can relate to just some of their assets and liabilities because there is the option to make a binding financial agreement prior to a relationship.
There are of course risks associated with doing a prenuptial agreement. Primarily this is because there are so many unknowns and people can't predict what their circumstances will be, 5, 10, 20, or even 30 years in the future.
Finding financial agreements can be very reassuring in many situations when people are wanting a degree of certainty about what might happen if their relationships end.
And it can also give a lot of comfort to children from first marriages who may be concerned about what will happen to the assets of their parents should they repartner.
Consent Orders
A consent order is an order that is made by the court with the agreement of both parties and is a mechanism by which separated couples can formalise their settlement.
A court will only approve the making of a consent order if the court determines that the outcome is just inequitable for that particular case.
Making a consent order doesn't necessarily involve the parties ever needing to commence litigation or even attend court. The parties can reach agreement and have a consent order made by having their documents prepared by a solicitor and filed online through the family court portal.
Unlike a binding financial agreement, a consent order can only be made after a relationship has broken down. There is no option, for example, to do a prenuptial agreement in the form of a consent order.
A consent order can deal with both financial and parenting matters. This is different to a binding financial agreement, which can only deal with financial issues.
How can I learn more?
Adele is an accredited specialist in Family Law. She holds a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology major) from the University of Melbourne.
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