Agar and Dunst

In *Agar and Dunst*, Benjamin J of the Family Court of Australia considered an application to vary existing financial orders. The dispute concerned the division of superannuation interests between the parties.

The primary legal issue before the court was how to appropriately allocate a portion of the respondent's superannuation interest to the applicant, in accordance with the provisions of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), specifically section 90MT. This involved determining a base amount to be allocated and the mechanism for future payments from the superannuation fund.

Benjamin J reasoned that a base amount of $60,652 should be allocated to the applicant from the respondent's interest in his superannuation fund. The court further ordered that upon the trustee of the fund making a splittable payment in respect of the respondent's interest, the trustee was to pay the applicant her calculated entitlement under the relevant regulations and make a corresponding reduction to the respondent's entitlement. The order specified an operative time for the superannuation splitting, which was to take effect four working days from service of the order on the trustee or within twenty-eight days of the order, whichever occurred first.