Renoir and O’Reilly

In the matter of Renoir and O’Reilly, Coleman J of the Family Court of Australia made orders concerning the division of superannuation interests between a husband and wife. The dispute centred on the husband's membership in the AMP Flexible Lifetime Superannuation Plan.

The court was required to determine how the husband's superannuation interest should be treated for the purposes of property settlement. Specifically, the court needed to make orders to effect a division of the superannuation interest, specifying the method of calculation and the operative time for such division, and to address the practicalities of transferring the wife's entitlement from the superannuation fund.

Coleman J applied the provisions of the *Family Law Act 1975* and the *Family Law (Superannuation) Regulations 2001* to make orders for the division of the superannuation. The court ordered that the wife be entitled to a specific base amount from any splittable payment from the husband's superannuation interest, with a corresponding reduction to the husband's entitlement. The operative time for this order was set at four business days from service of the orders on the trustee. The court also made provision for the wife to request the trustee to roll over or transfer her benefits, and clarified that payments made after such a transfer would not be considered splittable payments. Further orders addressed the parties' entitlements to other property and provided for the Registrar to sign documents if a party failed to do so. Costs were reserved.