| Good on you! You've managed to buy a house. Your | | | | between them. Finally, David told Samantha he was |
| initial thoughts are to become a property investor | | | | leaving. If that wasn't bad enough, David wanted the |
| where you can build up the equity in your home and | | | | house sold and half the sale proceeds so he could |
| use that equity to leverage yourself into other | | | | purchase a home for himself. |
| properties and increase your wealth steadily over | | | | Samantha didn't think this was fair. The home they |
| time. | | | | now had was mainly paid for by the sale proceeds |
| At the time you purchased your house, a family trust | | | | she'd got when she sold her parent's old home. David |
| was not at the top of your mind. Protecting your | | | | didn't see it that way and the battle between the |
| assets seemed boring and something you could get | | | | lawyers began. |
| to 'later'. | | | | Eventually, Samantha and David settled their |
| But the fact is, that life events like a relationship split | | | | differences in Court. The Judge ruled their home had |
| can not only be emotionally damaging, but financially | | | | to be sold and the sale proceeds had to be split 50 / |
| damaging too. | | | | 50. |
| Look at this story below to illustrate. | | | | The Judge said that Samantha had 'intermingled' the |
| Samantha hadn't had an easy time of it lately. Both | | | | sale proceeds she'd got from her parent's old home |
| her parents had died in the last couple of years and | | | | to the point where those proceeds had become |
| she felt quite alone. The only silver lining in the black | | | | 'relationship property', which was to be split evenly |
| cloud was that she no longer had to worry about | | | | between them. |
| money. | | | | The result of this sorry story was Samantha not only |
| Her parents had left her their house and their life | | | | lost her marriage but in effect lost her matrimonial |
| insurance had paid off the mortgage so she had a | | | | home and her inheritance from her parents. |
| pretty good start in life. | | | | How could this awful outcome have been avoided? |
| Black clouds don't last forever. Samantha finally met | | | | Well we aren't in the business of marriage guidance |
| the love of her life and she felt like the luckiest girl in | | | | but we do know that taking good asset protection |
| the world when David asked her to marry him. | | | | advice and putting in steps to protect her parents' |
| Things went well over the next few years for them. | | | | home and the resulting sale proceeds would have |
| They had two lovely children and sold Samantha's old | | | | saved Samantha's inheritance. |
| family home and bought a new one for them all to | | | | That means setting up a family trust. |
| live in. | | | | The small cost of doing this and the tiny amount of |
| Then events started to unravel. First, David lost his | | | | time required each year to administer a trust is small |
| job. Then when he got another job he seemed to | | | | compared to the risk and possible life events that |
| work really long hours. Things became strained | | | | can occur and affect your life for the worse. |