The appellant wife appealed a trial decision that limited her remedy for the respondent husband's unconscionable conduct to 100 per cent of the difference between their net family properties under s. 5(6) of the Family Law Act.
The husband had surreptitiously encumbered and sold a property, effectively gifting $190,000 to a third party to exclude it from his net family property.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, holding that s. 5(6) empowers a court to award up to 100 per cent of the value of the offending spouse's net family property, not just the difference between the parties' properties.
The trial judgment was varied to award the appellant the full value of the respondent's net family property.
