High Court de facto relationship decision

The case

On 11 May 2022, the High Court of Australia handed down the decision of Fairbairn v Radecki  [2022] HCA 18.

This judgment indicates what the highest court in the land considers are the most important factors in determining the meaning of "breakdown of a de facto relationship" in respect to the making of property settlement orders under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) for de facto parties.

The decision also defined how to determine when a de facto relationship is said to exist. The Court will take into account all of the specific circumstances of the parties' relationship and whether or not a couple are living together on a genuine domestic basis.

In this case, the parties did not dispute that a de facto relationship did existed. The question was when that relationship ended. The court had to consider the effect of one of the parties suffering a decline in their cognitive health to the extent that they were moved into an aged care facility.