New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
statute that primarily deals with the division of property of married couples,
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
couples and civil union couples when they separate or when one of them dies. In general, the couple's property is to be divided equally between them.
The Act was previously called the Matrimonial Property Act 1976 but amendments in 2001 changed the scheme of the Act considerably hence "Matrimonial Property" was replaced with "Property (Relationships)" in the short title. The 2001 amendments extended the property division regime in the Act to include heterosexual and
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
de facto partners, making it one of the first New Zealand statutes to acknowledge same-sex relationships. In 2005 the Act was amended again to include civil union partners following commencement of the controversial
Under section 15 of the Act, if at the end of the relationship the income and living standards of partner A are likely to be significantly higher than partner B as a consequence of the effects of the division of functions within the relationship, then the Court has power to make compensating orders. This provision has been referred to as the "stay-at-home spouse clause" and allows one partner to be awarded more than 50 percent of joint property to address the economic disparity created during the relationship.Spratt, A. ''The New Zealand Listener'', 7 July 2007, p. 15
Contracting out agreements
If people have assets they wish to protect they can enter into a contracting-out agreement with their partner at the beginning of the relationship. The provisions in part 6 of the Act deal with contracting out of the Act so that the 50/50 split can be avoided. For contracting-out agreements to be watertight, they must be drafted in such a way as to allow for the creation of future property.Spratt, A. ''The New Zealand Listener'', 7 July 2007, p. 18