In Aussie, if you sue someone for defamation of character is it up to them to prove their allegations? and is?

it necessary to disprove it? The mother and sister of my late husband (he died of AIDS but do not know I am not HIV positive) have been persecuting me and seriously defaming me over the businesses I have bought, built up, and sold, since his death. I had a hiccup with one which caused a temporary cash flow problem but nonetheless was settled out of court a couple of years later (not that they would know that). They have made up very serious allegations against my character, flying thousands of miles to my family to impart such nonsense. They imparted this nonsense to my young daughters, to whom I have showed my financials which disproves the claims, however they have caused me a lot of stress and heartache over their actions, and they still continue to do so with anything they can find. I want to stop them, not collect the damages, but because I am an extremely private person I am not willing to place my financials on the table for their scrutiny

Additional: When my husband died we had only small joint assets. He received an insurance payment before he died, but spent it himself (and why shouldn't he have!), which they well know. They slandered me to my family, friends and business peers, and more importantly my daughters "that I squandered the monies - which they state were more than enought to provide for us for the rest of our lives - and squandered the trust monies he left for our daughters (there was no money - and there was no trust)". My assets are comfortable (enough for me to retire quite early) and I am not prepared to make them open to public scrutiny in court as I am a very private person, and I also know that it may result in requests for handouts. I would just ignore it, except it is ongoing and the allegations embarrass me. To my surprise, even my family were inclined to believe them (they live 4 thous miles away), simply because I refused to provide evidence to the contrary. This has causes me much pain.

The problem with any defamation proceedings is that they are going to cost you a lot of money up front.

Secondly, you are going to have to show that they actually caused financial loss. Sueing for pain and suffering; no idea and I guess highly unlikely to succeed. In any case, fee legal advice is worth exactly what you pay for it {:-).

Face it, you just have a bitchy mother in law and sister in law. Perhaps they were expecting to "obtain" some money from him and that expectation is now dashed.

Basically, unless any of the family are in the business with you, you owe them nothing, daughters included. Showing them the books of your business would achieve nothing in anycase.

Frankly, people who have never run a business, and even many who have, generally have absolutely no understanding of business finances. To them a $100 sale is $100 of profit.

Either you are going to have to learn to ignore them or fight back, tactfully.

Are these people worth getting worried over? With personalities like this, they obviously have some severe problems. It sounds like you would be better off with them out of your life. Now that your husband is dead, this is any easy matter as you no longer have any obligations, unless there are other members of that side that you want to keep contact with as friends.

Nor should you give them any support in any way.

In the future, you have to think of yourself and your daughters, if they still deserve it.

Heck,if the money is there, I would retire and enjoy myself. You never can be sure what the future will bring.