The Dispatch
No XLVIII · Divorce · 7 min
What divorce actually costs in Australia
The real cost of divorce isn't the filing fee. It's the eighteen months of lawyer hours, missed work, and the second mortgage you didn't see coming.
No XLVII · DIVORCE
Mediation vs court, which path fits you
Mediation works when you both still want to be reasonable. Court is what you do when one of you stops. Pick honestly.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLVI · DIVORCE
How to prepare for mediation, properly
Mediation isn't a conversation. It's an exam. The blokes who walk in prepared walk out with a deal they can live with.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLV · DIVORCE
The divorce paperwork walkthrough
Divorce in Australia is one application, one fee, one hearing you might not even have to attend. The actual hard paperwork is everything else.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLIV · DIVORCE
Settlement, what a fair deal actually looks like
Fair isn't 50/50. Fair is the s79 four-step process applied honestly. Most blokes don't know what they're entitled to or what they're giving up.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XLIII · DIVORCE
Protecting your assets without being a prick
There's a clean version of asset protection that's just good record-keeping and disclosure. Then there's the version that ends careers. Stay in the first one.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XLII · DIVORCE
Prenups, postnups, and binding financial agreements
BFAs aren't just for the rich. They're a tool, with a price tag, a procedure, and a real-world strike rate that nobody quotes you upfront.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLI · DIVORCE
The essential steps when divorce is coming
The 90 days before separation are worth more than the next 18 months combined. Here's the order of operations that actually matters.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XL · DIVORCE
The 12-month separation rule, explained
Australia makes you wait a year before you can apply for divorce. Most men misunderstand what counts and what restarts the clock. Here is the rule, in plain English, with the traps men actually fall into.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIX · DIVORCE
Divorce and superannuation
Super is often the biggest asset on the table, and the most misunderstood. Splitting orders, accumulation vs defined benefit, the uplift factor question, and why ignoring super in settlement is the most expensive mistake men make.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXVIII · DIVORCE
Divorce and the business you built
The business is your work, your identity, and now an asset on the property pool. Valuation methods, the goodwill question, post-separation contributions, small business CGT, and whether to keep operating during settlement.
28 Apr 2026 · 9 min
No XXXVII · DIVORCE
When she cheated, the property question
Most men assume infidelity affects the property settlement in Australia. It usually does not. What does affect it (waste, dissipation, family violence), the grief vs strategy split, and why making the settlement punitive almost always backfires.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXVI · DIVORCE
The consent orders walkthrough
Most settled divorces in Australia end with consent orders, not a court fight. Here is what they are, what the forms ask, what they cost, and how long the court takes to stamp them.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXV · DIVORCE
Divorce with international assets
A UK pension. A flat in Auckland. A US brokerage account. Foreign assets do not sit politely outside an Australian property settlement, and pretending they do is the most common, most expensive mistake.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXIV · DIVORCE
Divorce and your credit rating
Joint debts do not divorce themselves. They follow you onto your credit file, sometimes for years after the marriage has ended. Here is what to monitor and what to dissolve, in the order that matters.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIII · DIVORCE
Self-represented vs represented
Lawyers are expensive, the forms are intimidating, and the middle ground (advice without full retainer) is more available than men realise. Here is when to do it yourself, when not to, and how to do it well if you choose.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXII · DIVORCE
The cost of fighting vs settling
The numbers nobody quotes you upfront. Mediation, consent orders, and what a contested matter actually does to your bank account and your nervous system.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXI · DIVORCE
Divorce and your tax returns
The CGT rollover, the super split, the date that matters, and the trap of getting the year of separation wrong with the ATO.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXX · DIVORCE
Divorce, the second time
Less surprise, more grief at the pattern. The financial concentration. The kids who are older. What you know now you did not know first time.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXIX · DIVORCE
When the paperwork is finally done
The numb anti-climax of the divorce decree. Why it does not feel like an ending. The grief that arrives unexpectedly. Carrying on without ceremony.
28 Apr 2026 · 6 min