01 Oct Dramatic New Legislation Creates Many Potential Changes for De Facto Couples Including Same-Sex – But Who Knew?
Written by Bev Clark The Relationships Register Act 2016 (SA) enables the registration of a relationship in South Australia. Registration is available from the 1st of August 2017. I have seen no media announcement in relation to this. I appreciate that on the 15th of November 2017 we will discover the outcome of the Australia wide postal vote on whether or not the majority of us agree to allow same-sex couples to be married in Australia. Even if the vote is yes there will be some couples who choose not to marry – no different to heterosexual couples who may choose not to marry. Regardless, couples are now able to register their relationship in South Australia. At the present time, some parties in de facto relationships experience difficulties in obtaining entitlements from Centrelink, or in relation to insurance or superannuation because they need to establish through evidence that they are in fact an eligible de facto couple. There are different criteria in different pieces of legislation as to what is required to establish such a relationship. This simply adds to the confusion and difficulties faced by many. In family law, there are many cases where the parties may be in dispute as to whether or not a...