Section 52A — Property (Relationships) Act 1976: Priority of claims where marriage or civil union and de facto relationship

52A Priority of claims where marriage or civil union and de facto relationship (1) This section applies in respect of relationship property if— (a) competing claims are made for property orders in respect of that property, 1 claim being in respect of a marriage or civil union, as the case may be, and the other claim being in respect of a de facto relationship; and (b) there is insufficient property to satisfy the property orders made under this Act. (2) If this section applies, the relationship property is to be divided as follows: (a) if the marriage or civil union and the de facto relationship are successive (regardless of the order in which they occur), then in accordance with the chronological order of the marriage or civil union and the de facto relationship: (b) if the marriage or civil union and the de facto relationship were at some time contemporaneous, then,— (i) to the extent possible, the property order relating to the marriage or civil union must be satisfied from the property that is attributable to that marriage or civil union; and (ii) to the extent possible, the property order relating to the de facto relationship must be satisfied from the property that is attributable to that de facto relationship; and (iii) to the extent that it is not possible to attribute all or any of the property to either the marriage or civil union or the de facto relationship, the property is to be divided in accordance with the contribution of the marriage or civil union and the de facto relationship to the acquisition of the property. (3) For the purposes of this section, a marriage and a de facto relationship are successive if the de facto relationship begins during the marriage, but after the spouses cease to live together as husband and wife. (3A) For the purposes of this section, a civil union and a de facto relationship are successive if the de facto relationship begins during the civil union, but after the civil union partners cease to live together as civil union partners. (4) In this section, and in section 52B , property order — (a) means an order made under any of sections 25 to 31, and 33 ; and (b) includes a declaration made under section 25(3) . Sections 52A and 52B were inserted, as from 1 February 2002, by section 58 Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 5). See Part 9 of this Act as to the transitional and saving provisions. The heading to section 52A 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 ” after the word “ marriage ” . Subsection (1)(a) 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, as the case may be, ” after the word “ marriage ” . Subsection (2) 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 ” after the word “ marriage ” wherever it appears. Subsection (3A) was inserted, as from 26 April 2005, by section 3(4) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 19).