Unlike a divorce, where you actually receive a piece of paper from the Court confirming a marriage has ended, there can be uncertainty as to when a defacto relationship ends.
The Court had to recently consider whether a text message, sent on the morning of a deceased person’s death to his sister, was sufficient evidence of the termination of the deceased’s relationship with his defacto partner.
The text stated that the deceased wanted his family to receive his assets and that his partner was to receive nothing.
There was no other evidence to suggest the deceased had taken any other step to inform his partner that the deceased considered the relationship was over.
The outcome of the Court’s decision would dictate who would receive payment of the deceased’s $1.2 million superannuation benefit.
Ultimately, the Court found that a defacto relationship may not end purely by one party forming the intention to terminate it. In this case, the text message sent to the deceased’s sister alone did not terminate the relationship.
What do you do if you want to clearly demonstrate a defacto relationship has ended?
As usual, the answer is to seek advice.