Section 21A — Property (Relationships) Act 1976: Spouses or partners may settle differences by agreement

21A Spouses or partners may settle differences by agreement (1) A husband and wife or civil union partners or de facto partners may, for the purpose of settling any differences that have arisen between them concerning property owned by either or both of them, make any agreement they think fit with respect to the status, ownership, and division of that property. (2) This section is subject to section 47 . Sections 21A to 21T were inserted, as from 1 August 2001, by section 21(1) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 5). See section 21(3) of that Act which states that for the purposes of applying Part 6 of the principal Act during the period beginning on 1 August 2001 and ending with the close of 31 January 2002, all terms used in that Part have the meanings given to them in sections 2 to 2D of the principal Act (as substituted by section 8 ) as if section 8 were in force during that period. See Part 9 of this Act as to the transitional and saving provisions. The heading to section 21A was amended, as from 26 April 2005, by section 3(1) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 19) by substituting the word “ partners ” for the words “ de facto partners ” . Subsection (1) was amended, as from 26 April 2005, by section 3(4) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 19) by inserting the words “ or civil union partners ” after the word “ wife ” .