What To Do If Your Spouse Is Denying That A De Facto Relationship Existed
What do you do if your spouse is denying that a de facto relationship existed?
This is a question we see a lot in family law.
Often we see it in situations where:
It's a common thing in family law.
If you find yourself in that situation where your former partner's denying that a relationship ever existed, the Court must make a decision. A decision on whether there was a de facto relationship for the purposes of family law.
If the Court does decide that there was a de facto relationship then you will be able to proceed with a property settlement.
7 things the Court may consider when determining whether a relationship existed.
There are many things that the Court may consider when determining whether a relationship existed for family law purposes. However, there are 7 things they are likely to look at. These include:
- 1The duration of the relationship;
- 2The extent of your common residence, although lack of a common residence is not fatal. There have been cases where people lived separately and were still considered de facto couples;
- 3Whether a sexual relationship exists;
- 4The degree of financial dependence or interdependence;
- 5The ownership and use of each person's property;
- 6The degree of mutual commitment to a shared life;
- 7The reputation and public aspects of the relationship.
Example: Dale & Amy
Dale and Amy were in a relationship for three years.
Amy lived in Brisbane and Dale was a fly in, fly out worker in North Queensland.
Dale had a property up in North Queensland in his name where he would live during the weeks he was working. For one week of each month, Dale would return to Brisbane and he would live in the property owned in Amy's name.
Dale would also make the mortgage repayments on the property in Brisbane in Amy's name.
Amy and Dale would go on holidays together. They would jointly be invited to weddings. They would often attend those weddings as a couple.
When they separated, Dale tried to say that they were not in a committed relationship. He said it was a casual thing of convenience where he would see her just for the one week in each month. Therefore, on that basis, he said Amy wasn't entitled to make an application for a property settlement because they weren't considered to be in a de facto relationship.
Amy on the other hand, said, no, they were in a de facto relationship. Amy explained that she was financially dependent on Dale, especially with him making mortgage repayments on her property.
Amy added that they would spend each Christmas together with either family. They were also marked as 'in a relationship' on Facebook, so the public perception was that they were in a committed relationship.
The result
It's likely that if Amy made an application for a property settlement, Dale would deny her right to do so.
The Court would then be faced with making a decision about whether or not there was a de facto relationship for the purposes of the Family Law Act.
As mentioned earlier, the Court would look at:
- 1The length of the relationship;
- 2The extent of your common residence;
In this situation, Dale would only spend that one week, but that may not be fatal to Amy's case.
- 3Whether a sexual relationship exists;
Which on both parties evidence it did.
- 4The degree of financial dependence or interdependence;
This would be the evidence of Dale making those mortgage repayments on Amy's property.
- 5The ownership and use of each person's property;
The fact that Dale would live in Amy's Brisbane property every time he returned.
- 6The reputation and public aspects of the relationship.
This would include being marked as in a relationship on Facebook and attending those weddings, holidays and Christmases together.
The Court will consider all of these aspects. After that, they would need to determine whether they thought Amy and Dale we're in a de facto relationship.
If the Court decided they were, Amy would then be entitled to make an application for property settlement to divide hers and Dale's assets.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, and you're concerned about whether or not a de facto relationship existed, please give us a call on 1300 767 384. We'll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about your situation.