How To Manage Your Financial Agreement Effectively?

Financial agreements could be accessed by any two people who are married or are preparing to marry. Financial agreements are binding - in that sense they are very challenging to overturn - but they do need to fulfill the formal requirements specified by section 90G of the Family Law Act 1975 (“the Act”) to achieve this status: the agreement must be written. An oral agreement won’t suffice. This is because they are quite intricate records, and specificity is critical; both sides must receive independent legal advice from a legal practitioner. This advice must tell each of you what the agreement means for you, in terms of your rights, and the positive aspects and down sides of the agreement. It is suggested that you get these tips in writing; the agreement must have a clause stating you have each received such advice; a signed certificate from the legal practitioner attesting to these suggestions must be attached to the agreement; each party must sign the agreement; finally, each party must have either a copy or the original of the financial agreement.



These steps basically prevent either party from saying they were not conscious of the consequences of the agreement when they entered into it. When is a Financial Agreement Not Binding? Even though they offer general assurance, financial agreements are not dependable and they can be overturned in certain very specific occasions. Section 90K of the Act lists the first few conditions, notably where: any of the above official steps have not been satisfied; you have not disclosed, or have concealed or misrepresented, the extent of your assets and resources at the time you accessed into the agreement; it is impracticable for the agreement to be completed, for instance; a transformation has occurred concerning a child which will cause that child to go through hardship; or you accessed into the agreement by fraud, or for the purpose of defrauding another.



Your legal advisor can provide additional information on these, especially as certain standard clauses in financial agreements could be void. For example, section 90F overturns any clause that forbids the courts from instituting a maintenance agreement if, at the time, the other party was unable to support themselves.



A financial agreement may also be overturned by contract law, because they are, essentially, a contract. A full breakdown of these situations is beyond the scope of this article, but in summary, they arise in the operation of getting one party to sign the agreement, the other party engaged in conduct that was highly unethical or fraudulent; the agreement is vague and it is unclear what it intends to do; either party forced the other person to sign the agreement; or each party sign a new agreement terminating the financial agreement.



Most of these factors, on the other hand, should be dealt with by your legal practitioner when you obtain advice as to the financial agreement. Because of the difficulties associated with drafting a comparatively intricate document, it is strongly recommended you also use your practitioner to draft, or help draft, your financial agreement. This will help ensure it is binding, and supply the required defense to both of you if the relationship break apart.