News Corp Australia
Updated 28 Jan 2026, 5:40pm
First published 28 Jan 2026, 2:45pm
If you have to go to court to divide your assets after seperation, it won’t be cheap.
Any separation can be fraught – whether acrimonious or parting as best of friends, when it comes to dividing what was one into two, there is a lot of moving parts to it, and ‘the end’ is often just the start to a process that can take a lot longer.
Outside of shared children, one of the hardest things to deal with in a separation can be the division of real property – particularly the family home.
Tom Quaid, a real estate agent and Zone Manager for Cairns and the Far North at the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ). Picture: Quaid Real Estate website.
For most people, a significant portion of the family asset base will be tied up in either the main home, investment property or properties, or both, and when working out a fair division of assets, the value of those properties goes from a nice to know, to absolutely essential.
When assessing your real estate assets as part of any separation, there are a number of ways you can approach it, depending on the level of communication and cooperation between the parties.
The simplest method is where the two parties jointly appoint either a real estate agent (for an appraisal) or registered valuer (valuation), with the report then provided to both parties and an agreement to adopt the price put forward (give or take).
A couple who are fighting and are now going through a divorce. Picture: iStock.
It’s an independent third party, and then with a number set both parties can continue on with their calculations.
In the case where no-one can agree to anything, or access to the property is restricted by one party or the other, then an agent or valuer can be appointed by the courts in order to assess value.
Getting to this point can quickly become expensive, particularly once you account for legal costs and the time of the matter.
Where you can, its definitely worth addressing things before they get to this stage, though I appreciate that sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
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Involving the court can cost thousands. istock image
Price agreed (or close enough) the parties can then work out their division of assets, including whether one party keeps all or part of a particular property, and how the rest of the share in the property is dealt with from there.
Sometimes one partner will refinance to buy out the other party, and in others the property must be sold to then split the cash left after discharging the mortgage.
When it comes to the actual sale, again being able to agree on an agent, listed price and strategy will generally save both parties a lot of time and money.
Failure to agree can again result in court mandated decisions however, right up to having a court appointed agent and sale instructions.
As always – the right advice early can make a big difference. So talk to your experts – in property and law.
*** Tom Quaid is the REIQ Zone Chair for Cairns
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