Khan v Khan

In *Khan v Khan* [1989] NSWCA 123, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered a dispute between a husband and wife concerning the division of matrimonial property. The wife sought to appeal a decision made by a judge of the Family Court of Australia regarding the distribution of assets acquired during the marriage.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the Family Court judge had erred in his assessment of the contributions made by each party to the marriage and the subsequent division of property. Specifically, the court had to determine if the judge had given sufficient weight to the wife's non-financial contributions, such as her role as homemaker and caregiver, when making his final orders.

The Court of Appeal found that the Family Court judge had failed to adequately consider the wife's significant non-financial contributions to the marriage. Applying the principles of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), the court held that such contributions are of equal importance to financial contributions in determining a just and equitable division of property. The court reasoned that a failure to properly recognise these contributions would lead to an unfair outcome.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal allowed the wife's appeal, set aside the original property settlement orders, and remitted the matter back to the Family Court for redetermination in accordance with the principles articulated by the Court of Appeal.