Defacto Relationships – Not always what they seem

The findings made by the Court can sometimes seem counter to the headline facts of a case. In a recent decision in the Federal Circuit Court known as Benedict & Peake, after a trial which took four days, the Court found that a defacto relationship between the two parties did not exist for the purposes of the Family Law Act. This is despite the Court being satisfied that the two parties were the parents of a child (now aged over 18), the parties jointly owned property, the parties had lived at the same address for many years, and that the parties had worked together for the same business. On the face of it, you would imagine that these facts would lead to a conclusion that a defacto relationship did exist. However, on a very close examination of the fine detail the Court came to the conclusion that, so far as the Family Law Act is concerned, a defacto relationship was not in existence and therefore a property settlement, as applied for by the woman, could not be ordered by the Court.