How do the new Commonwealth laws for de facto relationships that have ended affect me?
The new laws that commenced on 1 March 2009 bring de facto couples (same sex and opposite sex couples) that have separated within the family law regime for property and spousal maintenance. De facto couples that have children have had recourse to the family law regime since 1988 for parenting matters only. Until now, property matters were governed by State legislation. The new laws enable separated de facto couples to access the Federal Magistrates Court and the Family Court of Australia for orders concerning the division of property (assets, liabilities, superannuation, etc) and spousal maintenance (the payment of maintenance by one spouse to the other which is significant as Queensland has not had law to enable spousal maintenance to be claimed by a de facto).
