Section 89 — Property (Relationships) Act 1976: Time for commencement of proceedings

89 Time for commencement of proceedings (1) Proceedings may be commenced after the death of 1 of the spouses or partners if,— (a) at the date of the death of the deceased spouse or partner, the spouses or partners are living together; or (b) in the case of de facto partners, at the date of the death of the deceased de facto partner, the de facto partners are not living together; or (c) in the case of spouses or civil union partners, at the date of the death of the deceased spouse or civil union partner the following circumstances exist: (i) the spouses or civil union partners are not living together; and (ii) the marriage or civil union has not been dissolved by an order dissolving the marriage or civil union, and an order has not been made declaring the marriage or civil union to be void ab initio ; or (d) in the case of spouses or civil union partners, at the date of the death of the deceased spouse or civil union partner the following circumstances exist: (i) the spouses or civil union partners are not living together; and (ii) the marriage or civil union has been dissolved by an order dissolving the marriage or civil union, or an order declaring the marriage or civil union to be void ab initio has been made; and (iii) not more than 12 months have elapsed since the taking effect as a final order of the order dissolving the marriage or civil union or the date of the making of the order declaring the marriage or civil union to be void ab initio ; or (e) in the case of spouses or civil union partners, at the date of the death of the deceased spouse or civil union partner the following circumstances exist: (i) the spouses or civil union partners are not living together; and (ii) the marriage or civil union has been dissolved by an order dissolving the marriage or civil union, or an order declaring the marriage or civil union to be void ab initio has been made; and (iii) more than 12 months have elapsed since the taking effect as a final order of the order dissolving the marriage or civil union or the date of the making of the order declaring the marriage or civil union to be void ab initio , but, either before or after the deceased spouse's or civil union partner's death, the Court grants an extension under section 24(2) . (2) The Court's power to grant an extension under section 24(2) extends to cases where the time for making an application expired before the commencement, on 1 February 2002, of the Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2001 . Sections 55 to 57 were repealed, and new Part 8 (comprising sections 55 to 95) and Part 9 (comprising sections 96 to 99) were inserted, as from 1 February 2002, by section 61 Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 5). See Part 9 of this Act as to the transitional and saving provisions. Subsection (1) was substituted, as from 26 April 2005, by section 3(4) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 19).