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Cryptocurrency and family law

Cryptocurrency can be easy to transfer, difficult to trace and highly volatile. Those features do not place it outside a family law property settlement. Digital assets may need to be identified, disclosed and valued alongside bank accounts, real estate, superannuation, businesses and other property.

This article explains the practical issues that commonly arise when a property pool includes cryptocurrency. It is general information only. The right approach depends on the assets, records and circumstances of each relationship.

Cryptocurrency can form part of the property pool

A property settlement considers the parties’ assets, liabilities and financial resources. Cryptocurrency and other digital assets can be relevant even when they are held through an overseas exchange, in a private wallet or in another person’s name.

The form of the asset may vary. It can include:

Ownership and value can be more difficult to establish than for a conventional bank account. Early identification helps reduce uncertainty and the risk of an incomplete settlement.

Full and frank financial disclosure applies

Parties to a financial or property case have an ongoing duty to provide full and frank disclosure of their direct and indirect financial circumstances. This can include digital assets, transaction records and interests held through companies, trusts or other structures.

Useful records may include:

Do not destroy records, conceal assets or move cryptocurrency to frustrate disclosure. Non-disclosure can delay a matter, increase costs and affect the orders a Court makes.

Never give another party a seed phrase, private key or password. Those credentials can allow complete control of a wallet. Disclosure should provide the information needed to identify and value an asset without compromising its security.

Valuation can be time-sensitive

Cryptocurrency prices can change quickly. The value at separation may be very different from the value when an agreement is reached or a hearing takes place. The appropriate valuation date and method depend on the circumstances.

In a straightforward case, an exchange statement and a reliable market price may be enough. A more complex portfolio may require specialist tracing, accounting or valuation evidence, particularly where assets have moved between exchanges and private wallets.

Tax consequences and transaction costs may also affect the practical value of a proposed settlement. Tax advice should be obtained where needed before assets are transferred or sold.

Practical steps after separation

If cryptocurrency may be part of the property pool:

  1. Keep copies of available statements and transaction histories.
  2. Record the exchange accounts and wallet addresses you know about.
  3. Preserve evidence of transfers without accessing an account you are not authorised to use.
  4. Keep your own credentials secure and update account security where appropriate.
  5. Obtain legal advice before selling, transferring or dividing a substantial digital-asset holding.

Cryptocurrency does not always make a property settlement contentious. Clear records, timely disclosure and a sensible valuation process can help the parties negotiate with a more reliable picture of the property pool.

How Empower Family Law & Mediation can help

We can advise on disclosure, valuation evidence and settlement options when digital assets form part of a property matter. Where specialist forensic accounting, tax or valuation input is required, we can help identify the questions that need to be answered.

Read about property settlement or contact our team to discuss your circumstances.

Your first 30-minute consultation is free. Call (03) 7020 6542.

For official information about disclosure obligations, see the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia’s duty of disclosure guidance.

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What the disclosure duty actually reaches

The duty of disclosure is not a general expectation of honesty. For financial and property matters it is set out in section 71B of the Family Law Act 1975 for married couples, section 90RI for de facto couples, and Chapter 6 of the Court Rules, and it is deliberately wide.

You must disclose your total direct and indirect financial circumstances. That covers all sources of earnings, interest, income, property including vested or contingent interests, and other financial resources — and it applies whether those things are owned by you directly, go to some other person or beneficiary such as a child or a new partner, or are held in corporations, trusts, companies or other structures.

For cryptocurrency this matters more than it does for a bank account. An interest held through a company or trust, held in an exchange account in another name, or held in a wallet you control but do not formally own, is still within the duty. So is a holding the other party has never heard of: the duty expressly extends to documents the other parties may not know about.

The duty starts with the pre-action procedure, before a case begins, and continues until the matter is finalised. It is ongoing — as circumstances change, or as more documents come into your possession, power or control, you must keep disclosing.

Transfers before and after separation must be disclosed

There is a specific rule that catches the behaviour people most often ask us about. You must disclose any disposal of property — by sale, transfer, assignment or gift — made in the year immediately before separation, or at any time since final separation, that may affect, defeat or deplete a claim.

A transfer of crypto to a friend's wallet, a conversion to another asset, or a "loan" to a family member falls squarely within that rule. Moving it does not remove it from consideration; it creates a disclosable event and, usually, an adverse inference.

Volatility creates its own obligation

A party to a marriage or de facto relationship must file a Financial Statement. If it does not fully meet your duty, you must also file an affidavit giving further particulars. And if your financial circumstances change after you file, you must file an amended Financial Statement within 21 days — or, where the change can be set out clearly in 300 words or less, an affidavit explaining it.

With a volatile asset class that is a live obligation rather than a formality. A material movement in the value of a holding is a change in your financial circumstances.

The undertaking, and what happens if you get it wrong

Before the first court date, every party other than an independent children's lawyer must file a written undertaking: that they have read the disclosure provisions, that they understand the duty, that to the best of their knowledge and ability they have complied with it, and that they acknowledge a breach may be contempt of court. You must not sign it if you know, or should reasonably know, that it is false or misleading.

If a party fails to disclose, fails to file an undertaking, or files a false one, the Court may refuse to allow that information or document to be used as evidence, stay or dismiss all or part of the case, order costs against them, or — on a finding of contempt — impose a fine or imprisonment.

In a crypto matter this cuts both ways. If you hold digital assets, disclose them properly and early. If you believe the other party holds assets they have not disclosed, the remedy is not to go looking yourself; it is to raise it so that the duty, and these consequences, can be brought to bear.

Disclosure information on this page reflects the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia's duty of disclosure brochure, as at 27 October 2026. It is general information only, not legal advice, and does not replace advice about your own circumstances.

Valuing a volatile asset

Cryptocurrency raises a problem most other assets do not: the value can move materially between the date of separation, the date of disclosure, the date of any agreement and the date of a hearing.

There is no single answer to which date governs. What tends to matter in practice is that both parties are working from the same information at the same point in time, that the basis of valuation is stated rather than assumed, and that the orders or agreement deal expressly with what happens if the value moves before implementation. An order dividing a holding by percentage behaves very differently from one dividing it by dollar value, and the difference only becomes apparent once the market moves.

Where a holding is significant relative to the pool, expert evidence may be needed. Where it is modest, the practical question is often whether it is simpler to allocate the holding to the party who controls it and adjust elsewhere.

Records that actually help

The duty of disclosure is about substance rather than form, but with digital assets the form of the record determines whether anyone can verify it. Material worth preserving includes exchange account statements and transaction histories, records of wallet addresses you control, records of transfers in and out including dates and counterparties, purchase records showing cost base, and any tax records that reference the holdings.

Taxation records are often the most useful starting point, because capital gains events are reportable and a notice of assessment can corroborate the existence and scale of holdings even where exchange records are incomplete.

If you hold digital assets, assembling this material early is straightforward. Assembling it two years later, after exchanges have changed, accounts have closed or hardware has been lost, frequently is not.

Where crypto interacts with other obligations

Child support. Services Australia can investigate income that is not salary or wages, income from the cash economy, and arrangements involving companies, trusts or partnerships that reduce taxable income. Gains realised on digital assets can be relevant to an assessment or to an application to change one.

Bankruptcy and debt. Where a party is facing insolvency, the Court can deal with bankruptcy alongside certain family law proceedings. Digital assets acquired or disposed of in that context attract particular scrutiny.

Security and access. Practical questions about who holds keys, who has access to an exchange account, and what happens if access is lost are not legal questions, but they determine whether an order can be implemented at all. Deal with them while drafting rather than afterwards.

Court and agency information in this section reflects the published guidance of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and Services Australia, as at 27 October 2026. It is general information only, not legal advice.

Is cryptocurrency part of a property settlement?

Yes. Digital assets are identified, disclosed and valued alongside bank accounts, real estate, superannuation, businesses and other property. Being easy to transfer and difficult to trace does not place an asset outside a family law property settlement, and the Court's definition of property is deliberately broad, covering a wide range of things including real estate, money in bank accounts, businesses, livestock and companion animals. So the question is never whether cryptocurrency counts, but how it is identified, valued and accounted for within the overall pool. Valuation is the practical difficulty rather than the legal one, because a volatile holding can move materially between the date of separation, the date of disclosure and the date of hearing.

Does the disclosure duty reach crypto held through a company or in someone else's name?

Yes. You must disclose your total direct and indirect financial circumstances: all sources of earnings, interest, income, property including vested or contingent interests, and other financial resources, whether those things are owned by you directly, go to some other person or beneficiary such as a child or a new partner, or are held in corporations, trusts, companies or other structures. The duty expressly extends to documents the other party may not know about, which matters more for cryptocurrency than for a bank account. An interest held through a company, in an exchange account in another name, or in a wallet you control but do not formally own, is still within the duty, and it continues as circumstances change.

What if crypto was moved before or after separation?

It must be disclosed. Any disposal of property, by sale, transfer, assignment or gift, made in the year immediately before separation or at any time since final separation, that may affect, defeat or deplete a claim is disclosable. A transfer to a friend's wallet, a conversion into another asset or currency, or a loan to a family member falls squarely within that rule. Moving an asset does not remove it from consideration: it creates a disclosable event and, usually, an adverse inference about why it was moved. The look-back period reaching behind separation means transactions made while a relationship was ending, before any lawyer was involved, are captured as well.

How does volatility affect my obligations?

It creates a live, continuing duty rather than a one-off disclosure. A party to a marriage or de facto relationship must file a Financial Statement, and if that does not fully meet the duty of disclosure, an affidavit giving further particulars as well. If your financial circumstances change after you file, you must file an amended Financial Statement within 21 days, or, where the amendments can be set out clearly in 300 words or less, an affidavit containing details of the change. With a volatile asset class that is a real obligation rather than a formality: a material movement in the value of a holding is a change in your financial circumstances, and the 21-day period runs from the change.

What happens if someone does not disclose their holdings?

Before the first court date, every party other than an independent children's lawyer must file a written undertaking confirming they have read the disclosure provisions, understand the duty, have complied with it to the best of their knowledge and ability, and acknowledge that a breach may be contempt of court. You must not sign it if you know, or reasonably should know, that it is false or misleading. If a party fails to disclose, fails to file an undertaking, or files a false one, the Court may refuse to allow that information or document to be used as evidence, stay or dismiss all or part of the case, order costs against them, or impose a fine or imprisonment on a finding of contempt.

I think my former partner holds crypto they have not disclosed. What should I do?

Raise it rather than investigating it yourself. The remedy is to bring the duty of disclosure and its consequences to bear, which can include orders for disclosure, answers to specific questions, and the production and inspection of documents under the Court rules. Attempting to access someone else's accounts creates its own legal problems and can undermine an otherwise strong position. Where the issue is structural rather than concealment, for example value held inside a company or trust, a different approach may be more effective than a disclosure fight. Which path suits depends on the evidence actually available to you, so take advice before starting one rather than after.

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