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Bad news for the Jensens’ divorce plans

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WHILE Canberra couple Nick and Sarah Jensen have made international headlines over their plan to get divorced if they have to share the institution with same sex couples, legal opinion is sadly lining up against them.

Lawyers Farrar Gesini Dunn have been moved to blog their concerns around the plan.

Whilst we cringe to know that this is what puts “Canberra on the map”, we cannot help but comment in relation to the legal aspects of what Mr Jensen has said.

The only way to get a legal divorce in Australia is to apply to the Family Court (or Federal Circuit Court) pursuant to the Family Law Act (FLA). Section 48 of the FLA states that “An application under this Act for a divorce order in relation to a marriage shall be based on the ground that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. Section 48 goes on to say that ‘a divorce order shall not be made if the court is satisfied that there is a reasonable likelihood of cohabitation being resumed’. Further, ‘the divorce order shall be made, if and only if, the court is satisfied that the parties separated and thereafter lived separately and apart for a continuous period of not less than 12 months”.

Noting the very public statements that Mr Jensen had made about their intention to continue to live together and refer to each other as ‘husband’ and ‘wife’; we think they may have difficulty applying to the Court for a divorce.

The lawyers in us cannot help to also point out that even if Mr and Mrs Jensen satisfy the court that they have met the conditions to apply for a divorce, living together as a couple immediately after they divorce does not instantly mean they are living together in a de facto relationship. Getting a divorce will also affect their wills.

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17 Responses to Bad news for the Jensens’ divorce plans

Bonnie says: 13 June 2015 at 6:44 am

These bigoted individuals clearly have no actual intention to divorce, they just want to have a bit of a tantrum at the prospect they may have to share the term marriage. I had the same experience this morning, I was waiting for a train at the station eating this delicious donut, then this gay person came up and started eating a donut as well. Obviously I was then forced to throw out the remainder of my donut in the trash and stick my fingers down my throat to bring up the rest. Seeing someone else being allowed to enjoy the same thing I enjoyed, it just seemed wrong and totally changed my eating experience. It just wasn’t what I signed up for when I purchased the donut at the bakery.

But on a serious note, why are these two individuals being given time in the media? The only positive if that most people are taking a negative attitude towards their infantile sookfest. You want to divorce, newsflash no one cares. If anything people are encouraging them to do it. Since around 1 in 3 marriages in Australia end in divorce, they’re not even being original. Though it is probably one of the most absurd reasons to get divorced, I will give them that.

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E. Jota says: 13 June 2015 at 4:56 pm

Call it what you want, but don’t call it marriage. I can’t believe how many people have hopped on board with this. You can’t re-define marriage without destroying marriage! A husband is a husband, and a wife is a wife. A homosexual is a homosexual. And what homosexuals have is nothing akin to marriage. Enough of this playing house! Leave marriage alone. Gays can do whatever they want, but it’s only because they’re in the wrong that they are calling upon the power of government to force everyone else to see it their way. I can NEVER see it their way, and I should not be censured for saying so.

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Ralph Anderson says: 14 June 2015 at 12:53 am

No-one wants to ‘re-define’ marriage … Ignoring the rest of your ranting (what did gay people ever do to you?), no-one is ‘censuring’ you, or asking you to change your mind. However, the majority – you know, the majority in our democracy – see no reason to oppose something that will have no effect on them personally, but will make a huge difference to the gay community.
Be against it all you like on your own time, but trying to stop the tide? That’s just silly.

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Alex says: 14 June 2015 at 1:29 am

Anyone who claims, “You can’t re-define marriage without destroying marriage!” Has no real historical perspective on marriage, how it became an institution, and how that institution has been changed over time to fit emerging societal attitudes and norms.

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John says: 14 June 2015 at 2:22 am

are you serious? everyone is entitled to the same rights as everyone else even if they are homosexual, the reason they call upon the government is because they made the rules on who can get married I don’t see how two guys or two girls getting married concerns you or effects you in the slightest so get off your high horse, if two people love each other the same way a man and a woman do then that’s perfectly fine and a perfectly reasonable excuse to get married they want to be unified as a whole instead of having to live in the eyes of people like you who can’t accept others for the choices they make.

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Rob Miller says: 13 June 2015 at 5:00 pm

I think they forgot that thier religion says divorce is a sin and they will burn in hell if they do so.

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James White says: 13 June 2015 at 6:24 pm

Don’t worry, there are so many people like you, the thing that really makes me happy is that one day you will die, and everyone else that thinks like you will die, and as the world evolves we will come to a place where being homosexual is completely normal and everyone will think the same thing, so can’t wait for you all to die 🙂

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Bonnie says: 13 June 2015 at 5:17 pm

These bigoted individuals clearly have no actual intention to divorce, they just want to have a bit of a tantrum at the prospect they may have to share the term marriage. I had the same experience this morning, I was waiting for a train at the station eating this delicious donut, then this gay person came up and started eating a donut as well. Obviously I was then forced to throw out the remainder of my donut in the trash and stick my fingers down my throat to bring up the rest. Seeing someone else being allowed to enjoy the same thing I enjoyed, it just seemed wrong and totally changed my eating experience. It just wasn’t what I signed up for when I purchased the donut at the bakery.

But on a serious note, why are these two pervert individuals being given time in the media? The only positive if that most people are taking a negative attitude towards their infantile sookfest. You want to divorce, newsflash no one cares. If anything people are encouraging them to do it. Since around 1 in 3 marriages in Australia end in divorce, they’re not even being original. Though it is probably one of the most absurd reasons to get divorced, I will give them that.

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Mrs Me says: 13 June 2015 at 8:27 pm

Why are they bigoted?And why should you call them names if they do not agree with you?Careful! Call people names could land you into hot water!

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Krista says: 20 June 2015 at 1:36 am

They are being hypocritical, and throwing a tantrum because they believe that marriage is only for religious straight people. That the definition is owned by them and their ‘god’. Which isn’t true. For your information, you have literally answered your own question.

When you asked him how they were bigoted:

big·ot
?bi??t/
noun
a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.

Your lacking ability to even Google a definition of a single word is very concerning. You probably also didn’t know that marriage was originally a business transaction. The father sold his daughter to her future husband. Usualli offering things like livestock or other materials. The fact that you can’t do that already anymore means the definition was changed already. He is just trying to get attention. Perhaps he didn’t get enough as a child.

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Not so sure says: 13 June 2015 at 6:24 pm

Rob, pretty sure divorce isn’t a sin, adultery is and since marriage is ’till death do us part’, sex with another person after a divorce is still considered adultery, even if you marry them, thus a sin.

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Eric Glare says: 16 June 2015 at 10:08 pm

In the Bible adultery was from first person to have sex with until their death – sexual initiation seems to be marriage in the Bible and there is no ceremony described. Divorce was only not a sin when the reason was the partner’s or as it reads, the female’s adultery or sexual sin: “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Mat 5:32). For me the blame of the wife here misses entirely that men are the by far the chief sexual aggressors and predators of rape such that this is proof of a careless misogynistic god not seeking to maximise good relations.

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Rick Rov says: 13 June 2015 at 10:05 pm

As usual, the media giving attention to ignorant, self satisfied whack jobs who need a kick in the ass…..This is why I hate the media so much – why does australia have to pander to this type of BS?

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David Yardley says: 14 June 2015 at 1:11 am

How silly are these people. I personally think they wanted to see their names in the pa per, they are not very good at being a Christian are they ?
Foolish and child like.
What does it matter if the same sex can marry as long as 2 persons are in love and support each other in sickness and health…….. perhaps the church should do more in supporting gay marriage, gay people can be Christians also No wonder the Anglican Church is dropping in membership we are taught to love one another.
I tell these people to “Get a Life”
Blessing from the United Kingdom

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Simonsays2015 says: 15 June 2015 at 3:27 pm

What is very disturbing is that Mr Jensen is a director of an educational institution. I wonder if everyone at the Lachlan Macquarie Internship is comfortable with him linking his extremist views to that organisation? It’s not a major institution admittedly, but did he get everyone’s agreement to out himself in this way? I guess he’s the director and so may not have to. I can’t imagine this episode will boost enrolments.

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