There are more than 200,000 de facto relationships in Western Australia.[1] The Family Court Amendment Act 2022 (WA) passed by the West Australian Parliament on 18 August 2022 and is effective as of 28 September 2022. [2] The amendment puts WA de facto couples in line with their ‘eastern states,’ counterparts. The Act allows separating de facto couples to split their superannuation in matrimonial property disputes in the same way that married couples can do in Western Australia which b before the enactment was not possible.[3]
The Attorney General, the Honourable John Quigley remarked that the previous system ‘…often created severe injustice where there were not enough other assets to help make a fair division of property between the splitting de facto partners’[4] and therefore this is a significant development for de facto couples living in Western Australia’.
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[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics, Western Australia 2016 Census All Persons QuickStats (Web Page, 31 December 2016) <https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2016/5>.
[2] Family Court Amendment Act 2022 (WA).
[3] Family Law Act 1975 (WA) pt VIIIC.
[4] Government of Western Australia, De facto couples now captured under superannuation splitting laws (Media Statement, 18 August 2022) <https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2022/08/De-facto-couples-now-captured-under-superannuation-splitting-laws.aspx>.