COMMENT
Changes to the laws about de facto couples and their property had passed Jeff by. He read the papers when he had his morning long black, but he was not really interested.
It didn't seem to apply to him and Sonja, who had been shacked up together for one hell of
a long time - about seven years if you counted, which he didn't.
Jeff reasoned that he didn't have a house of his own so it wasn't something to worry about. The Auckland property market had skyrocketed by the time he had saved enough for a deposit and he didn't fancy having a crippling mortgage around his neck.
Sonja kept going on about it but he ignored her. She was the only child of wealthy parents and would inherit the lot, he calculated, so why worry now.
Jeff was a sparky. When he and Sonja had got together he went out with the boys whenever he could and cruised. His business survived, but only just.
Sonja was an accounts clerk in a photocopying business down the road from Jeff's favourite cafe. Romance blossomed and they sort of fell into living together, in Sonja's flat.
Finally the other flatmates shifted out saying they were sick of Jeff's slobbiness and aversion to doing the dishes.
Sonja was a bit hyperactive. "Roadrunner," Jeff called her. She started answering Jeff's phone for him after-hours, providing a friendly and efficient alternative to Jeff's languid answer-phone message.
When Jeff was struggling with his tax one day, Sonja grabbed the wad of papers he called his accounts and told him she'd take over doing the books and that she'd love to help him out.
Jeff thought she was a bit mad but shrugged and was glad of the help.
Sonja sorted out the accounts and soon had them in fine shape. She suggested that Jeff take on another electrician so that he could keep up with the work which was starting to flow in.
In a couple of years Jeff's business was booming. Soon he had three electricians working for him and Sonja dropped down to part-time hours at her old job.
She didn't go on the pay-roll because neither of them thought it was necessary. They both took cash out of the business when cash jobs came up and extra money the business pulled in went into buying furniture, the odd holiday and a home theatre system that Jeff had coveted for some time.
Jeff stopped smoking dope and his mates joked that he had become a blouse because he didn't seem to want to go out on the town with them much any more.
Suddenly one night Sonja's parents were killed in a car crash. She coped admirably, organising the funeral and her parents' affairs. Then she hit the wall.
Jeff found it all too much and buried himself in his work. He started going out with the boys again, particularly as more often than not Sonja would be crying when he got home.
Probate for her parents' wills had just been granted and the lawyers for the estate made gentle enquiries as to where the substantial bequest was to be paid.
Sonja paused for thought and told the lawyers she would have to come back to them on that one.
When Jeff came home that night from his night out with the boys, Sonja had gone. Her stuff had disappeared, including most of the furniture. Only Jeff's home theatre system remained. He was cleaned out.
Within a few weeks a letter from Sonja's lawyers arrived, making suggestions for division of property. In disbelief, Jeff contacted his own lawyer to find out whether Sonja's lawyers were just trying it on.
Unfortunately for Jeff, the best his lawyers could do was to suggest that the chattels be valued while they were intact at Sonja's new place and that he should get half of the total value.
The business was a problem though, explained his lawyer. It was originally Jeff's separate property, because he started it up before the couple began living together. But Jeff had to agree that it had really increased in value over the period of the relationship, largely due to Sonja's efforts. That increase in value became relationship property and he would have to pay Sonja out.
Jeff had two substantial contracts that he had signed to provide all the electrical work in commercial buildings. That affected the business worth too.
It was no use trying to hide the value of the business in any fancy accounting because Sonja knew the state of the accounts. Neither was it any use trying to bury his head in the sand. That would just cost him more in legal fees and he would end up paying costs to Sonja.
Because most of the value of the business was in equipment and vehicles Jeff got off reasonable lightly. The big contracts added value, though and Jeff ended up forking out $70,000 to pay Sonja her share of the business.
Sonja did read the paper when she had her coffees. That was why she did not throw her inheritance into a family home for the two of them. Her inheritance was her separate property and Jeff did not have any right to a share in it.
But if she had stayed in the relationship some of her inheritance could have become mixed up in the relationship pool and changed its status. Sonja was not about to let that happen.
Jeff's long black could have been better accompanied by a bit more heavy reading. The new property laws that apply to de facto couples are not confined to homes. They affect businesses and other property too.
* Vivienne Crawshaw is a Family Law Specialist with Gubb and Partners of Auckland. She may be contacted through the Herald by email to dialogue@nzherald.co.nz
COMMENT
Changes to the laws about de facto couples and their property had passed Jeff by. He read the papers when he had his morning long black, but he was not really interested.
It didn't seem to apply to him and Sonja, who had been shacked up together for one hell of
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