> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.rytz.com.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Step 1 — Asset pool > Identify what's in the property pool — assets, liabilities, financial resources. The foundation step of every property settlement under the post-10-June-2025 codified four-step framework. import { CardGroup, Card, Note, Tip, Warning } from '@mintlify/components' The first step of the four-step framework is to identify what's in the property pool. Before you can divide property, you have to know what property exists. The Settlement Planner's **Asset Pool** tab handles this step. ## The legal framework Section 79 of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) — and section 90SM for de facto matters — gives the court power to alter property interests on relationship breakdown. Before the May 2024 / June 2025 amendments, the four-step framework was case-law-derived (Stanford, Mallet, Pierce, Bevan). Post-10-June-2025 the framework is codified in the statute itself. Step 1 is the asset-identification step: what property exists, owned by whom, valued at what. ## What goes in the pool The pool is broader than people expect. It includes: The family home, investment properties, holiday properties, vacant land. Owned solely or jointly. Valued at current market value (an agreed valuation date or the trial date). Cars, motorbikes, boats, caravans. Trade-in or market value, less any finance owing. Furniture, appliances, art, jewellery, collectibles. Often grouped at "household contents — agreed at \$X" rather than itemised. Every account either party holds, including offset accounts. Joint accounts split per ownership. Snapshot at an agreed date. Shares, ETFs, managed funds, term deposits, crypto, peer-to-peer lending. Valued at market price. Super is property. Defined-benefit, accumulation, SMSF — all in. Valued per the relevant valuation method (see [Superannuation splitting](/settlement-planner/superannuation-splitting)). Sole-trader, partnerships, companies. Valuation typically requires an expert (forensic accountant). The platform handles the analytical structure; the valuation itself usually needs an expert. Trademarks, patents, professional practice goodwill, accumulated leave entitlements, novel-form assets (e.g. domain portfolios). Often contested and often expert-valued. Mortgages, credit-card debts, personal loans, tax debts, business debts, HECS-HELP. Each subtracted from the asset side. Not directly property but capable of producing property — beneficial interests in family trusts, future earnings from established practices, expected inheritances. Treated separately from property at Step 1; relevant to Step 3 future needs. ## Valuation date When are values measured? Three common options: | Date | When used | Trade-offs | | ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Date of separation** | Asset existence + initial baseline | Separation is the conceptual snapshot but values change between separation and trial | | **Date of trial** | Court's preferred default for current values | Reflects current values; means asset values can shift during the matter | | **Agreed valuation date** | When parties agree on a snapshot date | Most common in negotiated settlements | The platform accepts a different date per asset class where useful. Real property might be at "trial date" while bank balances might be at "31 December 2025" because that's when both parties had statements. ## The Asset Pool tab in the Settlement Planner The platform's Asset Pool tab structures the entry. Per asset: * **Description** — what is it * **Owner** — User, Other, or Joint (with split if joint) * **Value** — current value * **Valuation source** — agreed, professional valuation, market estimate * **Valuation date** — when measured * **Notes** — anything contested or pending Per liability: * **Description** * **Borrower / debtor** — User, Other, Joint * **Balance** * **Repayment terms** — relevant for negotiation The tab produces a running asset-pool total and a per-party net-asset position. ## Common pool issues Three patterns the platform's Asset Pool tab is built to surface: **Hidden assets.** A common concern in contested matters. Disclosure obligations (post-10-June-2025 in the Act itself, with stronger penalties) require both parties to disclose all assets. The Asset Pool tab has a "disclosed by other party" indicator — if asserts you've identified haven't appeared in their disclosure, that's a flag. **Wastage and reckless dissipation.** The 10-June-2025 amendments codified the Kowaliw line — assets that have been wastefully dissipated (gambling, deliberate destruction, deliberate undervaluing on sale) can be brought to account by adding back to the pool. The platform's Asset Pool tab has a "wastage" flag for entries. **Add-backs vs current pool.** Pre-2025 many matters used "add-backs" — adding spent or dissipated assets back to the pool conceptually. The 10-June-2025 amendments narrow this: dissipated assets are no longer added back to the pool but may be considered as a contributions issue at Step 2. The platform's Asset Pool tab respects this distinction. ## Companion animals Post-10-June-2025, companion animals get their own treatment. Pets are not allocated by joint-ownership orders; the court considers caregiving history, family-violence considerations, and emotional bonds, then allocates the animal to one party. The Settlement Planner's Asset Pool tab has a Pets section that captures this separately from the main pool. ## Initial vs interim contributions Some assets enter the pool with one party's initial contribution still attached (the family home was bought with one party's pre-relationship savings). Step 1 captures this as part of the asset entry; Step 2 (Contributions) does the assessment of what that means for the split. ## What Step 1 produces The Asset Pool tab outputs: * **Total pool** — sum of all assets less all liabilities * **Per-party net position** — what each party would have if the pool were divided strictly by current ownership * **Contested entries** — items where parties disagree on existence, ownership, or value * **Pool-classification flags** — wastage, financial-resource-only, super-only This becomes the input to Step 2 (Contributions). ## What Step 1 will not do * **It will not value contested assets for you.** The platform structures the entry; for properties, businesses, intangibles, you typically need an external valuation. * **It will not detect undisclosed assets.** Disclosure obligations are legal; the platform helps you reason about what should be disclosed but cannot find what isn't. * **It will not advise on whether to dispute a valuation.** Disputed valuations are strategic decisions; the platform structures the analysis. ## What's next Once the pool is identified, who contributed what? The four-step framework in summary. Statutory and case-law context. Auto-populate the pool from imported financial documents.