After we have reached an agreement, how can we make our property settlement legally binding and what are the benefits?

There are two ways to make a property settlement legally binding:

• the first is to file Terms of Consent or Consent Orders with the Family Court of Australia; or
• the second is enter into a Binding Financial Agreement. This can only be done with lawyers advising both parties independently.

Some benefits of the agreement being legally finalised are that it provides certainty and finality, it can help protect assets acquired post separation, and there may also be stamp duty and capital gains tax advantages to doing so.

Generally if agreement is reached, then an agreement can be made into a binding document a matter of weeks.