539
edits
Changes
→Married spouses and unmarried spouses
*only married spouses must get a ''divorce'' to end their relationship with one another,
*only married spouses can ask the court for orders under the federal ''[[Divorce Act]]'', and
*the time limit for married spouses to ask for spousal support or orders dividing property and debt under section 198 of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' begins to run from the date they are divorced or the date their marriage is annulled.
That's it.
*apply for orders for the ''protection of property''.
People in both kinds of relationship may be the ''guardians'' of their children, and as guardians have parental responsibilities and parenting time with respect to those children, have ''contact'' with a child, ask for or be responsible to pay ''child support'', ask for or be responsible to pay ''spousal support'', and apply for orders for the ''protection of people''. For unmarried spouses, the time limit to ask for spousal support under section 198 of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' begins to run from the date they separated.
Although unmarried spouses who have lived together for less than two years are cut out of the part of the ''Family Law Act'' that deals with property and debt, they will still share in property they own jointly and they can still make claims to property owned only by one spouse under the law of trusts and the law of equity. These claims are discussed in the introductory part of the [[Property_%26_Debt_in_Family_Law_Matters|Property & Debt]] chapter.