Today www.news.com.au reported on the “plight” of a couple who vowed to divorce if Australia voted YES to same sex marriage. Now they are having to make good on that promise.
In 2015 the Jensen’s pledged to dissolve their very happy marriage if gay couples were allowed to wed.
But their divorce in protest of the outcome of the vote will be doomed to fail.
Mr Jensen has said that the “divorce” will not be a divorce in the traditional sense of the word. The couple have said that they will continue to live together, hope to have more children, will continue to call themselves “husband” and “wife” and consider themselves married in the eyes of the Church and God.
These statements are likely to come back and bite the couple as the Family Law Act confirms that in order for a marriage to be terminated, the marriage must have “broken down irretrievably”.
To satisfy such a requirement, there must be no reasonable likelihood of the relationship continuing and that the “consortium vitae” or partnership for life, has broken down. By their own statements the Jensen’s have no intention of ending such partnership.
In the current climate of exceedingly long delays in our Family Law Courts, a frivolous application such as this would occupy valuable judicial time and detract from the Court’s ability to provide that time to a family that was genuinely in need of its assistance.
Whilst the Jensen’s divorce application would be doomed to fail, if your relationship has broken down and you require efficient and expert Family Law assistance, the team at Marino Law are available to discuss your application for Divorce, property settlement or parenting issues. Call our office on 55260157 for a preliminary telephone discussion or submit your online enquiry via our website www.marinolaw.com.au
