Hi, could you please explain the Smiths v Fields (2012) in Family Law and its significance?
Hi again! I didn't look at this case in detail in Family Law and it's purely because I hated the property settlement side of the syllabus, it's just not my thing! So I don't have extensive notes off the top of my head. But, I've done some trusty googling
The entire court document is
here and if you are planning on using this case as a major case study, I definitely suggest searching through that and looking at the Justice's comments towards the end. I always found some little gold nuggets in court documents. Kane V Kane is a case that comes up everywhere when you are looking at the Smith V Fields case - so consider that into your research as knowledge that contributes to the SMith V Fields case. I think one of the key aspects that the Smith V Fields case highlighted is that the main income driver doesn't always prevail in majority of assets in the case of a split, if the other member of the pair contributed to thinks like family wellness, children, the family business from an administrative point, etc. I think this summarises it:
Commenting on the case, in the Australian of 20 April 2015, well- known family lawyer Paul Doolan noted inter alia that:
In cases involving high-net-wealth parties who built up their assets together, the fact that one party produced the income during the relationship is not to be seen as more important than the role played by the other in making contributions to the family. ^I got that from
here.
The case highlighted very clearly (and recently!) that there is no legislative direction to say that monetary contribution to a couple is more important than nurturing the family welfare and daily running. Essentially, the notion of a "breadwinner" from the 1950s is challenged, because the person providing the largest amount of income doesn't walk away with the most amount of money/assets in a divorce all the time. It definitely is possible, but the law appreciates the contributions that aren't monetary, to a relationship, as well.
An awesome awesome awesome resource on this case is
here!. This website has a lot of awesome cases on it, if you are ever in need