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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 3 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 812 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Where the deceased person is survived by a spouse - that means a married husband or a married wife - but no children or other descendants, the spouse inherits the whole estate. Where the deceased person is survived both by a spouse and by issue, usually children, the estate is divided between the spouse and the issue. At present the spouse takes the first $100,000 of the value of the estate, together with interest from the date of death to the date of payment and the personal chattels. The spouse also takes one-third or one-half of the balance of the estate, depending on the number of issue.

While the formula in general provides a fair basis for distribution, there is one group of people conspicuously not provided for. Where the deceased is not married to his or her domestic partner and has not left a will, the partner receives nothing from the estate. This Bill addresses this anomaly by including what are termed "eligible partners" in the list of those entitled to inherit on intestacy. An eligible partner is a person other than the legal spouse of the deceased, whether of the same gender or otherwise, who lived with the deceased as a member of a couple on a genuine domestic basis and either lived on that basis for at least two years continuously prior to the death of the deceased or is the parent of a child of the deceased under the age of 18.

The Bill also covers the situation of a person who dies leaving both a legal spouse and an eligible partner. If the deceased had lived with an eligible partner for more than two years but less than five years, the share of the estate that at present would go to the legal spouse is divided equally between the legal spouse and the eligible partner. If the deceased and the eligible partner have lived together for five years or more, the eligible partner will take the whole of the spousal share. None of the new provisions have any application where property is owned jointly by the deceased and the legal spouse, the partner or anyone else, or, of course, if the deceased left a valid will.

The Bill also increases the amount of the statutory legacy from $100,000 to $150,000. The statutory legacy is the amount which a spouse receives from an intestate estate before the balance of the estate is divided between the spouse and the children, if any, of the deceased. The figure of $100,000 has not been changed since 1984 when, I am advised, the then Commonwealth Government increased the amount to correspond with that in New South Wales. In New South Wales it was changed to $150,000 in 1993, and I believe that it is appropriate for the ACT to be consistent.

The opportunity has also been taken to make a number of minor and technical amendments to the Act, including the removal of gender specific terms. I commend this Bill to the house, Mr Speaker.

Debate (on motion by Ms Follett) adjourned.

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