FALCONE & FALCONE (No.2)

In *Falcone & Falcone (No.2)*, L. Turner J of the Supreme Court of Western Australia considered a dispute concerning the interpretation of a deed of settlement and its implications for the division of property between former spouses. The primary issue before the court was whether a specific asset, a property, was to be included in the pool of assets to be divided pursuant to the terms of the deed.

The court was required to determine the proper construction of clause 3 of the deed of settlement, which stipulated that certain assets were to be excluded from the division. Specifically, the court had to ascertain whether the property in question fell within the ambit of the exclusion as defined by the parties in the deed. This involved an analysis of the language used in the clause and the surrounding circumstances at the time the deed was executed.

L. Turner J applied established principles of contractual interpretation, emphasizing that the court's task was to ascertain the objective meaning of the words used by the parties in the deed. The judge considered the ordinary meaning of the terms, the context in which they appeared, and the overall purpose of the deed. Ultimately, the court found that the property in question was not excluded from the division under the terms of the deed, and therefore, it formed part of the divisible asset pool.