New legislation to recognise de facto couples in family law

The Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures) Act 2008 comes into effect on 1 March 2009. The new legislation updates the Family Law Act 1975 to provide for opposite-sex and same-sex de facto couples to access the federal family law courts on property and maintenance matters.

The changes also include recognition of financial agreements between de facto couples and superannuation splitting where determined by court proceedings. This was previously only available to legally married couples of the opposite sex.

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