My fees are pretty reasonable I think. I tend not to charge hourly rates for the legal work and do fixed price agreements. For the mortgage broking side I generally don't charge, for the tax side I work with accountants who charge fixed fees for returns.

Posting links to american websites won't help if you are located in Australia.

Names on property dont really matter that much in divorce property settlement. Check out the family law act and the family law court website.

 Property of the marriage can be divided. This can include all property of individuals of the marriage including land, cash, inheritances etc.

Who gets what will depend on a heap of factors including where the property come from, who contributed to it, needs etc.

Must be the cashflow after expenses??

Probably, but will depend on the circumstances.

You need to consider

– strike price

– term

– how much comes off

– etc

eg a property valued at $500,000 now

You take a one year option to buy it for $505,000 with you paying the equivalent of the loan repayments

or

You take a 1 year option to buy it at market value in 12 months time as determined by the average of 2 independant valuations.

or

You take a 5 year option and have the ability to buy the property for $500,000 with nothing coming off

etc

Not sure what you mean about intention?

When one spouse buys out the share of the other spouse the intention doesn't really matter. It is a purchase of property. If money is borrowed to buy this property and the property is available for rent then generally the interest will be deductible as the purpose of the borrowing is to buy an income producing asset. The same principles apply for the original part of the property the spouse may already own.

The ATO acknowledge that the interest may be deductible – see th ATO ID i cited above for proof.

But don't try this at home without legal advice as there are many issues involved.

You can't transact with yourself.

If he owned property worth $250,000 she could buy this off him for $250,000

Well, any situation in which you are taking an option to purchase someone else's property you would have to consider who else has an interest in the property and is this interest will take priority over your interest.

For example someone may sell you a property, and then before settlement someone else may lodge a writ over the property to secure a debt and this may occur before settlement. In this case who would take priority? According to a recent NSW case it would be whoever had registered their interest first. So if you exchange contracts and don't lodge a caveat someone else could take the property before settlement to satisfy a debt – a debt that you may not know anything about.

Not really.

You may think you are helping the owner etc but you may not know the full extent of their financial problems. If they do down the bank is going to get first take on their property. Then other secured creditors and then the non-secured creditors.

So if you want to proceed you will have to do a title search and see if there are any other mortgages, caveats or writs etc. Do a valuation too. Then you have to get a contract drawn up and make sure you take a charge and maybe lodge a 2nd mortgage or a caveat showing your interest in the property. Consider they may have other non registered mortgages too and then consider if these would take priority over yours. Very complex and legals would be lots of money to do properly.