Page updated on: Friday February 29, 2008
A civil union is a formalised legal relationship that is similar to marriage, except that the couple can be the same sex. Neither partner can be currently married or in a civil union and both need to be 16 or older. Close family members can’t enter a civil union with each other and the same excluded relationships apply as are found in Schedule 2 of the Marriage Act. (ie grandparent, parent, child, grandchild, sibling, parent's sibling, sibling's child, grandparent's spouse or civil union partner, parent's spouse or civil union partner, spouse's or civil union partner's parent, spouse's or civil union partner's grandparent, spouse's or civil union partner's child, child's spouse or civil union partner, grandchild's spouse or civil union partner, spouse's or civil union partner's grandchild.
A civil union formally comes to an end when the Family Court issues a dissolution order.
No formal legal steps are necessary for a united couple to separate - they simply stop living together. However, one of them may want to apply to the Family Court for a separation order; this can be a useful record of when the couple separated if one or both of them later applies for a dissolution order.