Hooligan Harry
Senior Don Juan
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2008
- Messages
- 498
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- 45
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24639686-5006301,00.htmlPHILANDERING husbands could be forced by the courts to continue paying mistresses after the affairs end.
The scenario is one of a raft of controversial outcomes set to arise from new laws covering failed de facto relationships that will take effect early next year.
Under reforms to the Family Law Act, de facto partners together for two years will be given the same rights as married couples to seek "spousal maintenance" claims in federal family law courts.
Maintenance, as distinct from child support, may be ordered to be paid by an ex-partner when the other party is "unable to support herself or himself adequately" following separation.
But legal experts warn the amended Act – passed in the Senate on Monday – opens the definition of a de facto couple to wide interpretation.
The legislation prescribes a de facto relationship as an opposite-sex or same-sex couple "living together on a genuine domestic basis".
Yet it also stipulates that a de facto alliance can exist even if one of the partners is legally married to somebody else or in another de facto relationship.
Veteran family lawyer Paul Hopgood said the door was ajar for jilted lovers from extra-marital affairs to seek maintenance orders.
"I get high-profile people from around town saying, `I'm having an (affair) with so and so. I wine and dine her and take her on holidays. I look after her and it's been going on for five years. But I'm safe – she hasn't got the key to my house'.
"You don't have to live in the same house and under the same roof to be a de facto (partner)."
The Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures) Act aims to end discrimination in the way married and unmarried couples are treated following separation.
Why would any sane man want to commit to any woman these days? This has gone beyond ridiculous
