In de facto property adjustment proceedings under Part IX of the Property Law Act 1958 (Vic), homemaker contributions must be recognised as non-financial contributions to the acquisition of business assets, not merely as contributions to domestic welfare. A court has jurisdiction to make an adjustment order even where the respondent's liabilities exceed assets, and post-separation tax liabilities incurred solely by one party may be excluded from the asset pool. Fresh evidence of amended tax assessments may be admitted on appeal where they falsify a basic assumption common to both parties at trial.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 24 later cases that cite this judgment.
5 of the 24 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.