A de facto relationship is defined in section 4AA of the Family Law Act. It is a relationship that two people who are not married or related by family have as a couple, living together on a ‘genuine domestic basis’. It can exist between two people of the opposite sex, or between two people of the same sex. Your relationship is not a de facto relationship if you are legally married to each other, or if you are related by family. All the circumstances of the relationship will determine whether a couple are in a de facto relationship. These include:
- the nature and extent of the common residence;
- the ownership, use and acquisition of any property;
- whether a sexual relationship exists;
- the degree of financial dependence or interdependence and any arrangements for financial support of one and other;
- the duration of the relationship;
- the degree of mutual commitment to a shared life;
- whether the relationship has been registered, in a state or territory with laws for the registration of relationships;
- the care and support of children;
- the reputation and public aspects of the relationship.