Understand relationship property

The Property (Relationships) Act 1976(external link) covers how the property of married couples, civil union partners, and de facto couples is divided when a relationship breaks up. This involves consideration of the type of relationship and how long the relationship lasted. The law says the general rule is to divide the relationship property equally (50/50).

If you made an agreement with each other about relationship property at the start of the relationship, then that agreement will apply instead of the Act.

Relationship property covers things of financial value that you gained during the relationship. It can include:

the family home and contents (but not taonga or heirlooms), other land or buildings and vehicles
salary or wages earned during the relationship, insurance payouts, superannuation you received, rents and other income from joint property
any property gained when you were in the relationship or had the relationship in mind and intended for both of you to use
non-personal debts (your personal debts are your own responsibility)
gifts or inheritances that have become mixed with relationship property
property you both agree is relationship property
increases in the value of relationship property, income from it or the proceeds from the sale of it.

You may decide to make a private agreement about how to divide your property. This can be complex and there’s a risk that the relationship property could be divided unfairly. You may want to seek legal advice when doing this. You can also use the sorted net worth calculator(external link) to work out how much your property is worth.

Relationship property is different to separate property.

What’s separate property?

Separate property is all property that isn’t shared between you and your ex-partner. It’s kept separate from the relationship. Separate property can include:

inheritances and gifts
heirlooms and taonga
property acquired under a trust. You should get legal advice about trusts as they are often complex
property that you and your ex-partner have declared is separate under a private agreement that overrides the Act
property acquired before the relationship began. The exception to this is the family home
property you bought with money from separate property
personal debt

Also see:

Find out more about the difference between relationship property and separate property(external link)

Joint and personal debt

There are two types of debt: personal debt and relationship (joint) debt.

Personal debt is debt that you incurred separately and isn't the responsibility of your ex-partner. For example:

debt related to separate property (not shared within your relationship with your partner)
debt you already had before your relationship started
debt you incurred after your relationship ended.

Relationship (joint) debt is debt that you and your former partner incurred together.

For example:

joint personal debt
joint business debt
joint debt incurred to buy, improve or maintain property
joint debt incurred to manage the household
joint debt incurred to raise any children of the relationship.

Other assets and accounts to consider

You may also need to:

check any bank accounts, credit cards or store cards you held together
talk to your bank about your mortgage repayments and responsibilities
check and update any joint insurance policies and repayments
check and update rental agreements
review or update any hire purchases or other loans you held together
update personal details like your online passwords (for example, your KiwiSaver or Inland Revenue accounts)
update direct debit details
open a new personal bank account or change your existing passwords or PIN
cancel or transfer automatic payments with service providers, for example, your power company or Netflix account
make sure that regular bills like automatic payments and debt repayments continue to be paid.
make or update your will(external link)