Historically, family violence was only taken into account as part of a Kennon claim. A Kennon claim, is a claim that one party subjected the other to family violence and that violence made the other party’s contributions significantly more onerous. Mr Liam Sambrook was told by the Court in 2024, that he (Ms Maurine Pyke QC as Senior Counsel) ran one of only 4 successful Kennon claims in Australia at that point being the case of Benson and Drury.

Family violence is now expressly relevant to a property settlement, in two distinct ways introduced by the 10 June 2025 amendments. First, section 79(4)(ca) requires the Court to take into account the effect of any family violence, to which one party has subjected or exposed the other, on the ability of a party to make financial, non-financial and homemaker or parent contributions. Second, section 79(5)(a) makes the effect of family violence a current and future circumstance to be taken into account at the third step.

The correct way to describe the effect is that family violence is not a separate head of compensation and does not translate into a fixed uplift. It operates through the structure set out in the legislation: where violence made a party’s contributions more arduous, it can increase the assessment of those contributions under section 79(4)(ca); and where it bears on a party’s current or future circumstances, it can support an adjustment under section 79(5)(a).

Whether a person would receive a larger share therefore depends on evidence connecting the violence to a person’s contributions or circumstances. These family violence considerations were introduced into section 79 by the 10 June 2025 amendments and now form part of the framework the Court applies and there will be significant debate and decisions about how the Court will deal with these amendments, however, these changes are likely to increase the amount of money and assets family violence victims will receive as part of property settlements.