[englishkoala]

I'm a little uncertain exactly what the department wants to see and what their definition of "sharing of finances is", it feels like it can take on different forms, the ideal black and white I suppose is that both are working, sharing a bank account, lease etc. but not all the time possible, would these kind of grey things below still count?

• One partner supports the other for a period of time by completely paying for everything (maybe they are studying, or visiting the other and their temporary visa doesn't entitle them work rights)
• Both are working and earning money, so pay for things equally.
• One partner pays for something, the other transfers them money
• One partner earns more than the other partner, so handles the household expenses but shares costs on activities/eating out etc.
• Sending each other money during a period of separation

Are there any particular things the department wants to hear? Like "all in all we share costs if we're both earning but if the other can't work or is poorer than the other one pays for stuff".

I guess my worry is they read such examples and say "that's not what we define as sharing of finances, it's not a real relationship".

Thanks!

 

[wrussell]

They look for 'financial entanglement'.
What evidence of this might be submitted depends on the circumstances of the case.

 

[Skybluebrewer]

Every relationship is different. I was the applicant and I have no household bills in my name because at the moment, my partner is the breadwinner and he set up all the accounts. Just because one person pays for things more than the other doesn't mean the finances aren't shared.

There are other ways we proved we live together and share finances. We have separate bank accounts but share a joint savings account. We are both on the lease. We are both on our insurance policies (private health, contents, vehicles, etc). My partner pays the regular bills and I tend to cover the day-to-day living expenses (groceries, fuel, kids' expenses like clothes or school/sports/activities costs, etc).

I think what the department wants to hear is how YOUR relationship works. There's no black and white answer as every relationship is different. Having separate bank accounts or bills in only one name doesn't mean that you don't share finances, just means that's how YOU share finances.

 

[Jagermeester]

Exactly what Skybluebrewer said.

We have provided information on our agreements on how to pay bills and why we set up a join account etc. Tell them how you have arranged your finances as that is what they want to know.

 

[Eh?]

As others have said, namely Sky, just explain your financial situation. Not everyone is going to operate the same, so its best if you offer up a clear and concise explanation to go with your evidence.

For us, we operated a joint account for household purchases, event tickets as well as our rent.

Because of the size of that evidence we split our financial evidence into two separate uploads, each containing an explanation about what was in each section.

For example, in regards to groceries, we explained that I paid for groceries and my wife would transfer her portion of that to me afterwards. The car insurance was in her name and came from her personal account. We explained that I would transfer her my portion of the insurance to her account.

Our first financial section was joint purchases and event tickets, we showed the purchases from a bank statement, highlighting each relevant purchase. Some of these even tied into our social aspects of the relationship, we noted that in both the financial and social section.

The other evidence was a list of every single bank transfer of rent to our landlord.

Again, everyone’s financials are going to be different. This worked for us and may not work for others.