Statements made by a party to third parties or government organisations (most commonly Centrelink, the Australian Taxation Office and the Department of Immigration) which contradict their evidence to the Family Court may not be fatal to their application for a finding of de facto relationship status.
Put simply, telling someone you're in a de facto relationship doesn't mean you are (and vice versa).
This situation arose in Benedict v Peake [2013] FCCA 332 when a de facto wife who had previously asserted
… Continued
