De Facto Law

Current De Facto Law – Family Law Act 1975

The Family Law Act 1975 applies equally to separating married couples and de facto couples.

A de facto couple includes people who are of the same or opposite sex who have lived together on a genuine domestic basis for a period greater than two years (or where the de facto couple have a child of the relationship).

Since 2006, the Family Law Act has applied to de facto disputes with respect to children.

The legislation changed in 2009 so as to enable de facto couples to negotiate for property division, superannuation splitting and, where agreement cannot be reached, to issue proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia or the Family Court of Australia.

Our family lawyers have assisted many, many de facto couples to negotiate agreements with respect to property and children, superannuation splitting, spouse maintenance and other matters.

Negotiating Settlements/Consent Orders

We are happy to assist you to negotiate a reasonable outcome for property division. If agreement can be reached, Consent Orders for property division are filed in the Family Court which brings formality to the agreement.

Consent Orders can be made with respect to both property and children’s issues.

Where the parties are not able to reach an agreement, de facto partners are entitled to apply to the Court for orders relating to property division and/or children’s issues.

Time restrictions apply with respect to bringing an application for property division before the Court. Your matter must be resolved within two years of separation or Court proceedings issued within that time. After two years, your matter is “out of time” and you will require the Court’s permission to make your application.

Needless to say, it is better to make an application to the Court as a matter of right within two years than to apply to the Court after two years and rely on the Court to exercise its discretion in your favour (where there is no guarantee of the Court doing so).

We can help

Our team of experienced family lawyers can help with all matters relating to the breakdown of a de facto relationship including separation, parenting/children’s issues, property division, superannuation splitting, spousal maintenance, property preservation orders and other orders, please contact us today.

Our Family Law team