Divorce or property settlement – what comes first?
This is a common question.
A divorce is an application to the court that dissolves the marriage. You have to have been separated for 12 months to apply for this. A divorce application does not address any other issues, e.g, property settlement or children’s arrangements. You can commence property settlement negotiations or document an agreement (or got to court, if that is required) at any time after separation, therefore it can (and usually does) occur prior to a divorce application.
The answer then is that – in the normal course property settlement will be addressed first and a divorce application later.