Lim & Lee

This matter concerned property settlement and child support proceedings between a husband and wife. The primary dispute revolved around the division of the asset pool and the husband's ability to meet his obligations to the wife, as well as the quantum of child maintenance and arrears.

The court was required to determine the just and equitable distribution of the parties' property, considering their agreed equal contributions and the wife's entitlement to a 5% adjustment based on section 75(2) factors of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). Additionally, the court had to address the husband's lack of immediate funds to satisfy the property settlement sum and the appropriate method for calculating and enforcing child maintenance payments, including arrears.

Burr J reasoned that while the parties' contributions were equal, the section 75(2) factors warranted a 55%/45% division in favour of the wife. However, the court found that ordering the husband to pay the full settlement sum immediately would not be just and equitable, given his limited financial resources and the fact that his superannuation represented his most significant asset. Applying the principles from *Woollams and Woollams*, the court ordered the husband to pay the property settlement sum by monthly instalments over eleven months and, crucially, to provide security for this payment by registering a charge over his superannuation entitlements. The court also ordered the husband to pay child maintenance arrears and ongoing weekly child maintenance for the parties' children.