The house is the one thing you want to keep. Your name is on the title with your ex, the loan still has two signatures on it and the bank has no idea you have separated. Buying out your ex-partner’s share of the mortgage comes down to whether you can carry the whole loan alone, pay your former partner their share and change the ownership without handing the state a duty bill.
For many people, the answer is yes, provided the paperwork lands in the right order. Agreement first, duty exemption second, then the refinance. Reverse that order and the same buyout can cost tens of thousands more. A refinancing finance specialist is usually brought in early, because the lender’s answer shapes what your lawyer can put in the agreement.
A buyout looks like a single event at settlement, but three separate transactions have to land on the same day, each with its own rules and gatekeeper:
Your former partner’s interest in the property is transferred to you by lodging a Form 1 Transfer and a Form 24 with Titles Queensland. It is a land registry transaction, separate from the lender, and the step that attracts transfer duty unless an exemption applies. A solicitor or conveyancer typically prepares it.
The existing joint loan cannot simply have one name removed. It was approved on two incomes and two sets of liabilities, and the lender’s security is the property as owned by both of you. To remove a name from a home loan, the joint loan is paid out in full and replaced with a new loan in your sole name. That replacement is the refinance, whether it stays with your current lender or moves to a new one.
Agreement between the two of you, with legal advice, sets the payout figure, not the lender. In broad terms, it is the agreed property value, less the loan balance, split by the percentage the settlement allocates, then adjusted for other assets and debts in the pool. The lender’s only interest in this number is whether you can borrow enough to pay it.
Whether you pay transfer duty, which the Queensland Revenue Office (QRO) also refers to as stamp duty, depends on the document behind the transfer. On a half share of a home, the duty can run into five figures, and the routes that determine it are:
A transfer that gives effect to a court order, including consent orders, is exempt from transfer duty under section 424 of the Duties Act 2001 (Qld). Consent orders are the usual route when both parties agree. You file an Application for Consent Orders with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and the court makes the orders if it is satisfied the property terms are just and equitable. Consent orders can be made without a hearing and have the same legal effect as orders made after one.
Married and de facto couples can also use a financial agreement under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). QRO confirms that no transfer duty is payable on transactions giving effect to a court order or financial agreement made under sections 90, 90L or 90WA of the Family Law Act, as set out in its matrimonial duty exemptions.
Under section 90G of the Act, an agreement between married parties binds only if each party received independent legal advice before signing and a signed statement from their lawyer confirming it. The agreement is not filed with a court, which can make it faster. One that misses these requirements may not bind, and a court can set an agreement aside in limited situations.
A transfer done without orders or an agreement is not exempt, even if your ex is willing to sign the house over. QRO assesses duty on the market value of the interest transferred, and because the two of you are related parties, a valuation is needed to set that value. Paying your ex privately first does not change this, because the exemption attaches to the order or agreement, not to the separation.
A refinance after separation is assessed as a new application, and paying the joint loan alone since you separated does not shortcut the process. The assessment typically turns on:
Lenders regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) test your repayments at the contract rate plus a buffer of at least 3 percentage points, a setting APRA confirmed on 28 May 2026. A loan at a 6% contract rate, for example, is tested at 9%. Your income alone has to cover repayments at that rate, with living expenses assessed for a household of your size and each dependent child raising the floor the lender uses.
Since 1 February 2026, APRA has also limited each lender to 20% of new owner-occupier lending at a debt-to-income ratio of six times or more. The limit applies to the lender’s lending as a whole, not to you directly, but a lender close to it may be less flexible where your loan would be six or more times your gross income. APRA reviews both settings regularly and may change them.
Many lenders count child support as income where it is documented and expected to continue. The usual evidence is a Services Australia child support assessment, a court order or a registered agreement, plus bank statements showing the payments arriving. Lenders commonly require the payments to continue for a minimum remaining period, which varies by lender and in practice depends on the youngest child’s age. Private arrangements with no formal assessment are generally not accepted, however reliable the payments have been.
Family Tax Benefit Part A and Part B, paid through Services Australia, are often counted as well, with some lenders accepting the full amount and others discounting it. Child support can reduce the Family Tax Benefit Part A you receive, which matters when both are counted as income. The same documentation test applies across most single-parent home loan options, where these payments often make up a large share of assessable income.
Any joint credit card, personal loan, car loan or guarantee still in both names counts fully against your borrowing power, even if the agreement says your ex will pay it. Credit card limits are counted even when unused, so a $20,000 limit at a nil balance can reduce what you can borrow until the card is cancelled.
The practical fix is to have the agreement require those accounts to be closed, refinanced into the responsible party’s name or paid out from the settlement no later than the home loan settlement.
Borrowing the payout usually pushes the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) higher. A home valued at $900,000 with a $450,000 loan sits at 50% LVR. Add a $200,000 payout to the loan and the LVR becomes just over 72%. Add enough to settle other joint debts and it can cross 80%, the point where lenders typically charge lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) on the new loan. The valuation drives all of this, and the lender’s valuer may return a figure different from the one you and your ex agreed.
The lender you choose affects how fast the buyout moves, what it costs and how much you can borrow. The realistic options are:
Staying with your current lender is often faster, because the security is already held and the discharge and new mortgage are handled internally. It still runs a full assessment on your income alone, and its policy on child support, family payments or dependants may be stricter than another lender’s.
Moving to a new lender adds discharge fees, a new valuation and new settlement costs, but it opens up policy differences that can decide whether a single-income application is approved. The choice turns on the same trade-offs as repricing versus refinancing, with the added pressure that the buyout cannot wait indefinitely.
Non-bank lenders are not subject to APRA’s prudential rules and may apply different living expense models or accept a wider range of income types. They are often considered after a decline, sometimes alongside a longer loan term or a small cash contribution to lower the LVR, though rates and fees can be higher. None of these routes guarantees approval, which is why a finance specialist working across a lender panel typically runs the scenarios before anything is lodged.
Most settlements combine more than one source, and the mix affects the LVR, whether LMI applies and how much your income has to carry:
Borrowing the payout as part of the new loan is the most common route. The lender advances enough to discharge the joint loan and pay your ex, secured against the home. Because the release is tested against the same rules as the rest of the loan, your income sets the limit, not the equity available, which is the first figure home equity finance advisers usually check.
Cash in an offset account, savings or a term deposit can pay part of the payout directly, lowering the amount borrowed and the LVR. Funds in a joint offset are part of the property pool and are divided under the agreement, so only your allocated share is available.
Taking less of another asset in exchange for keeping the home reduces the cash that changes hands. Your ex might keep the car, the share portfolio or a larger slice of the joint savings, with the home payout reduced by the same value, as settled in the agreement.
Superannuation can balance the settlement but cannot fund the payout in cash. It is part of the property pool and can be split by order or agreement, with part of one party’s balance transferred into the other’s fund. A smaller cash payout on the home is then offset by a larger share of super going to your former partner.
Gifted money from a parent reduces the loan and may bring the LVR under 80%. Lenders usually ask for a signed letter confirming the money is not repayable.
A family guarantee uses a parent’s property as additional security for part of the loan, which can avoid LMI without cash changing hands. The guarantor’s available equity is usually the first thing family guarantee finance specialists assess. Lenders typically require the guarantor to take independent legal advice, and their property is at risk if the loan is not repaid.
The funding sources above are a general guide. Which combination works depends on your income, the settlement terms and each lender’s policy.
This order avoids paying duty on a transfer that could have been exempt and signing a settlement your lender then declines to fund:
Timeframes vary. How quickly consent orders are made depends on the court’s workload, and a refinance commonly takes around four to eight weeks from application to settlement, depending on the lender. Treat these as a general guide only.
Most buyouts that stall do so at one of these points, each easier to handle before the application goes in:
The lender lends against its own valuation, not the figure you and your ex agreed. That leaves three figures in play, being what your ex wants, what you want and what the lender’s valuer returns. A lender valuation below the agreed price lifts the LVR, can trigger LMI or reduce the loan below what you need. Some couples agree a mechanism in advance, such as the average of two independent valuations, to stop this becoming a second negotiation.
Until discharge, the joint loan stays a joint obligation, so a late repayment during separation is recorded against both borrowers. Under Australia’s credit reporting rules, a repayment made more than 14 days after the due date counts as missed and can stay in repayment history for two years. A lender assessing the new loan sees that conduct and may decline or charge a higher rate. A financial hardship arrangement agreed with the current lender is recorded differently and cannot be used to calculate your credit score.
Under the Family Law Act, married couples generally have to apply for property orders within 12 months of a divorce order taking effect, and de facto couples within two years of the relationship breaking down. After the deadline, the court’s permission is needed, which is not automatic, and that uncertainty can stall a lender waiting for the orders or agreement.
Lenders generally want the sealed orders or signed agreement before formal approval, while lawyers generally want finance confirmed before locking in a payout figure. Conditional approval on the draft terms bridges the gap by showing both sides the payout is fundable while formal approval waits for the paperwork. Lenders differ on how long a conditional approval holds, and a court delay can push the settlement past that window.
Your ex remains fully liable on the joint loan until it is discharged, which ties up their borrowing power for their own next home until your refinance settles. It also explains why some former partners will not sign the transfer until the payout is certain, since signing over their interest while still on the loan would leave them with the debt and no asset.
Before your lawyer drafts the consent orders or financial agreement, get an assessment of what you can borrow on your income alone. Count any documented child support and family payments, and list every joint debt still in both names. That figure sets the largest payout you can fund, which is the number the agreement needs to be built around.
If you are weighing up whether you can keep the family home on one income, the team at Ausfirst Lending Group can talk you through the options that suit your circumstances.
Yes, in practice. Their signature is needed on the discharge of the joint loan and on the Form 1 Transfer.
Where agreement cannot be reached, the court can make property orders that require the transfer, and the refinance then proceeds under those orders. That path usually takes longer and costs more than consent orders.
The same framework applies. A transfer under a court order or financial agreement is still exempt from duty, and the loan is still assessed on your income alone.
The difference is that you are taking on a property you did not previously own, so the lender assesses it as a purchase funded by the settlement, with the agreed payout treated as the price.
Generally not at the time of transfer. The Australian Taxation Office’s marriage or relationship breakdown rollover lets your ex disregard any capital gain on a share transferred under a court order or qualifying agreement, and you are treated as having owned that share since your ex acquired it.
When you later sell, the main residence exemption may cover the gain in full or in part, depending on how both of you used the home over the combined ownership period. A tax adviser can confirm how this applies to your situation.
Separation itself is not recorded on a credit file. Conduct on joint accounts during the separation period can affect it.
Closing joint credit facilities as early as the agreement allows limits your exposure to your ex’s repayment behaviour.
Redraw on the joint loan is usually not available for this purpose, because the funds belong to both borrowers and the loan is about to be discharged.
The payout is normally funded through the new loan at settlement, with any cash contribution coming from your own accounts or your allocated share of joint savings.
The orders still stand, and most include a timeframe for the transfer and payout. A decline means approaching a different lender, adjusting the loan structure or funding more of the payout from another source.
Where none of those works, the usual fallback in the orders is the sale of the property, which is why checking borrowing power before the orders are drafted is the safer order of events.
There is no legal requirement. The exemption is claimed on the transfer documents lodged with Titles Queensland together with the orders or agreement, and errors in the lodgement can result in duty being assessed.
Most people have the solicitor or conveyancer handling the settlement claim the exemption as part of the same lodgement.
This article is general information only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any of it, you may wish to speak with a qualified professional, including a family lawyer, a tax adviser or a licensed finance adviser, about your own circumstances.
