How your estimate is calculated

Separately follows the same structured process an Australian court uses to divide property. Here is exactly how it works, and where its limits are.

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In short

There is no fixed formula for property settlement in Australia. Courts work through four steps: identify and value the pool, weigh each person's contributions, consider each person's future needs, and then check the result is just and equitable. Separately scores your answers against those same steps and returns a likely range, not a single number, because the law is applied with judicial discretion.

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Step one: identify and value the pool

The first step is to work out what there is to divide. The asset pool includes real estate, savings, vehicles, business interests, and superannuation, less the debts owed by either of you. Superannuation is treated as property in Australia, even though it cannot usually be cashed out, and it is included in the pool.

Separately collects each asset, debt, and super balance through the guided wizard and calculates the net pool. The size of the pool also matters later: a $50,000 inheritance means something very different in a $200,000 pool than in a $4 million pool, so contributions are weighed relative to the pool, not in the abstract.

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Step two: assess contributions

The court then looks at what each person contributed across the whole relationship. The Family Law Act recognises three kinds of contribution, and Separately scores each one:

Initial contributions (s 79(4)(a))

What each person brought into the relationship, plus inheritances and gifts received along the way. Generally these matter more in a short relationship and are diluted over a long one.

Financial contributions (s 79(4)(b))

Income earned, mortgage and bill payments, and money put toward assets during the relationship, including contributions made after separation.

Non-financial contributions, including homemaking and parenting (s 79(4)(c))

Caring for children and the home, and other non-financial work. This is weighed seriously, not as a lesser contribution. A 50/50 split is not automatic, and looking after the home and children counts whoever did it.

Each factor produces an adjustment with a confidence level, based on the facts you enter rather than on a subjective judgement, which is how Separately keeps the assessment consistent from one person to the next.

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Step three: consider future needs

A division that only looked backward at contributions could still leave one person much worse off going forward. So the law adjusts for future needs (the factors at s 75(2)). Separately weighs:

  • Age, because an older person has fewer years to rebuild (s 75(2)(a))
  • Earning capacity, where one person can earn far more than the other (s 75(2)(b))
  • Ongoing care of children or other dependents after separation (s 75(2)(c))
  • Health, where a health condition affects capacity to work (s 75(2)(e))

These factors shift the estimate away from a pure contributions split toward the person with greater future need, within the bounds the law applies.

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Step four: is it just and equitable?

Finally, the court stands back and asks whether the overall result is just and equitable in all the circumstances. This is the step that makes a single exact number impossible: two reasonable decision makers can land on slightly different figures from the same facts.

That is why Separately reports a range with a confidence level, rather than pretending to a false precision. The range is the honest output of a discretionary process.

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The limits of any estimate

  • The estimate is only as good as the information you enter. Inaccurate or incomplete data produces an inaccurate estimate.
  • Property settlement is discretionary. A court or a negotiation can reach a different result, which is why the output is a range.
  • Complex structures such as trusts, businesses, and international assets often need professional valuation that no tool can provide.
  • Reports are not reviewed by a lawyer at the moment you generate them. Separately is general information, not legal advice. We strongly recommend a qualified family lawyer before you make any settlement decision.
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Sources

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