Most divorces not dragged through court: study

A majority of Australian couples who divorce do not call in lawyers or resort to court action, new research shows.

"Fighting and acrimony is not an inherent result of separation," said author Dr Rae Kaspiew, co-author of the Australian Institute of Family Studies research.

The study asked 9000 separated Australian parents how they settled the division of their property, Fairfax Media reports.

The sample included couples who had been married or living together and who had been separated for about five years.

The average value of assets to split was about $261,000 and many had very young or primary-aged children.

Almost half of the couples had divided their property within a year, the research showed.

Richer families with assets of more than $500,000 took more than two years to reach a resolution.

Women in the study said they obtained about 50 percent of property assets while men said they ended up with about 37 percent.