{"id":54296,"date":"2017-12-11T06:47:56","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T06:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=54296"},"modified":"2017-12-11T06:47:56","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T06:47:56","slug":"australian-gay-couple-in-legal-limbo-can-finally-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/australian-gay-couple-in-legal-limbo-can-finally-divorce.html","title":{"rendered":"Australian gay couple in ‘legal limbo’ can finally divorce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian gay couple in ‘legal limbo’ can finally divorce<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

As the first same-sex couples began registering for marriage in Australia, one woman was exercising another new right – being allowed to divorce.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawyers for the Perth woman filled out divorce papers on Sunday, a day after same-sex marriage became legal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pair had wed in a European nation’s consulate in Australia in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

When they later separated, the couple found themselves in a “legal limbo” of being unable to divorce in either nation, barrister Teresa Farmer said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“They were just stuck. [My client] was very much inextricably linked to this person and couldn’t do anything about it,” Ms Farmer told the BBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Unless something changed in Australia, or in the overseas jurisdiction, she wasn’t going to be able to move on.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, could not divorce because they were not residents of the country that married them, Ms Farmer said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Australia, meanwhile, did not recognise same-sex marriages until Saturday. The impasse lasted for more than a year.<\/span><\/p>\n

First divorce?<\/span><\/p>\n

The marriage was immediately recognised when Australia’s new laws became official, after MPs overwhelmingly voted for the change last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Farmer said her client immediately lodged an application for divorce, received by a court on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was possibly the first application for a same-sex divorce in Australia, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Farmer said her client had previously been resigned to waiting for Australia’s same-sex marriage debate to play out.<\/span><\/p>\n

“She just accepted there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She wasn’t happy but there was nothing she could do,” the barrister said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“She is now very relieved. She has re-partnered and she just wants to get on with life.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Residency in a country is typically required for divorce applications, another family lawyer, Chris Dimock, told the BBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-australia-42304347<\/span><\/p>\n

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