Family Law: Summary Notes
The Nature of Family Law
The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines a family as “two or more persons…who are related by blood, marriage, (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering and who are usually resident in the same household”.
Legal Requirements of marriage
The legal definition of marriage is: (contained in the Marriage Act 1961)
A union of a man and a woman
Voluntarily entered into
For life – this is the intention, but not the actual state of marriage
To the exclusion of all others
CASE
Hyde v Hyde and Woodmansee (1866) UK – definition of marriage was given in common law in this case.
There are certain requirements of a valid marriage found in the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth). A marriage will be declared void or invalid if:
One of the parties is already married
The parties are related to each other in a prohibited degree
One party did not really consent to the marriage – that is, he or she was forced in to the marriage (duress), tricked into the marriage (fraud), or otherwise did not voluntarily enter into the marriage.
One of the parties is not of marriageable age
Alternative family relationships
Alternative family relationships recognised by the law:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander marriages – customary law
De-facto relationships – recognised under the Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW) which amended the De facto Relationships Act 1984 (NSW) in 1999. The care of any children of the de facto relationship is decided by the Family Court.
Single-parent families – The Child Support Scheme was introduced in 1988 to enforce maintenance orders on parents who do not reside with their dependent children.
Blended families
Same-sex relationships – Since 1999 same-sex relationships, as well as heterosexual relationships, have been protected under the Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW). The relationship must be two years long to be considered a de facto relationship. To this day the Federal Government has not been
The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines a family as “two or more persons…who are related by blood, marriage, (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering and who are usually resident in the same household”.
Legal Requirements of marriage
The legal definition of marriage is: (contained in the Marriage Act 1961)
A union of a man and a woman
Voluntarily entered into
For life – this is the intention, but not the actual state of marriage
To the exclusion of all others
CASE
Hyde v Hyde and Woodmansee (1866) UK – definition of marriage was given in common law in this case.
There are certain requirements of a valid marriage found in the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth). A marriage will be declared void or invalid if:
One of the parties is already married
The parties are related to each other in a prohibited degree
One party did not really consent to the marriage – that is, he or she was forced in to the marriage (duress), tricked into the marriage (fraud), or otherwise did not voluntarily enter into the marriage.
One of the parties is not of marriageable age
Alternative family relationships
Alternative family relationships recognised by the law:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander marriages – customary law
De-facto relationships – recognised under the Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW) which amended the De facto Relationships Act 1984 (NSW) in 1999. The care of any children of the de facto relationship is decided by the Family Court.
Single-parent families – The Child Support Scheme was introduced in 1988 to enforce maintenance orders on parents who do not reside with their dependent children.
Blended families
Same-sex relationships – Since 1999 same-sex relationships, as well as heterosexual relationships, have been protected under the Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW). The relationship must be two years long to be considered a de facto relationship. To this day the Federal Government has not been