Cook and Cook (No. 5)

In *Cook and Cook (No. 5)*, Young J of the Family Court of Australia made orders concerning the property settlement between the husband and wife. The dispute involved the division of real property, specifically the former matrimonial home and a timeshare, as well as significant superannuation interests held by the husband in two separate funds, Spectrum Superannuation Fund and Tower Superannuation Fund. The court also addressed the husband's superannuation entitlement in the Strategy Superannuation Fund and ordered the husband to pay the wife's costs.

The primary legal issues before the court were how to effect a partial property settlement by allocating the husband's interests in the former matrimonial home and the two superannuation funds to the wife, and how to manage the ongoing ownership and costs associated with a timeshare. The court was also required to determine the quantum of the wife's costs and the timeframe for their payment.

Young J ordered that the husband transfer his interest in the former matrimonial home to the wife at her expense and discharge the mortgage secured upon it. The parties were to retain joint ownership of the timeshare, with the husband solely responsible for all associated costs. Crucially, pursuant to section 90MT(1)(b) of the *Family Law Act 1975*, the court ordered that 100% (less $10,000) of the husband's interest in the Spectrum Fund and 100% of his interest in the Tower Fund be allocated to the wife. The orders specified the mechanism for the trustees of these funds to make splittable payments to the wife, with corresponding reductions in the husband's entitlements, and set operative times for these superannuation splitting orders. The husband was to retain his current allocated pension entitlement from the Strategy Superannuation Fund, and existing consent orders were to be varied as necessary to facilitate the superannuation splitting.

Finally, the court ordered the husband to pay the wife's costs of and incidental to the partial property application and hearings in the sum of $17,500 within one month, with interest to accrue on any outstanding amount thereafter. The wife's partial property application and the husband's response were otherwise dismissed, with liberty reserved to the wife to apply to reinstate certain injunctive relief and disclosure orders.