Jonah & White

The case of *Jonah & White* concerned an application made to Justice Murphy of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia for a declaration pursuant to section 90RD of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth). The specific dispute involved a claim that a de facto relationship existed between the applicant and another person, in support of an application for orders under sections 90SE, 90SG, or 90SM of the Act.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether a de facto relationship existed between the parties for the purposes of the *Family Law Act*. This required the court to consider the definition of a de facto relationship, particularly the concepts of "a couple" and "living together," as contemplated by the Act.

Justice Murphy's reasoning was informed by previous authorities, including the decision of Mushin J in *Moby v Schulter*. His Honour agreed with the approach that the definition of a de facto relationship should be considered as a "single composite expression of a comprehensive notion or concept." The court determined that for a de facto relationship to exist, the parties must constitute "a couple" and must "live together." However, the concept of "living together" does not necessitate full-time cohabitation and does not import any requirement for a proportion of time spent together. Ultimately, the question of whether parties were in a de facto relationship is to be determined on a case-by-case basis, without unduly circumscribing any particular factor.

The application for a declaration pursuant to section 90RD of the *Family Law Act* was dismissed. The Amended Initiating Application was also dismissed. Following the expiration of the appeal period, all subpoenaed documents were to be returned to their original custodians, and all exhibits were to be returned to the persons who tendered them.