What do the Federal Government amendments to the Family Law Act mean for Superannuation?
Superannuation and Family Law In 2002 there were amendments to the Family Law Act which allowed superannuation to be treated as property . The Court was empowered to make Orders splitting superannuation entitlements, transferring entitlements from one party to the other. Of course, the splitting of a person’s superannuation entitlement and a transfer of that entitlement does not mean that the person receiving the benefit of that entitlement could immediately draw down on the interest received. The normal provisions for drawing down on superannuation would. Under the legislation, if a splitting Order was made then one person would obtain an interest in the other person’s superannuation fund. A party could retain that interest in the fund or roll it out into a fund of their own choosing. Prior to 2002 and the reason why this legislation was introduced into the Family Law Act was that in many cases married couples have had small property interests ...