Queensland Consolidated Acts

DOMESTIC AND FAMILY VIOLENCE PROTECTION ACT 2012 - SECT 19

19 Meaning of family relationship and relative

(1) A
"family relationship" exists between 2 persons if 1 of them is or was the relative of the other.

(2) A
"relative" of a person is someone who is ordinarily understood to be or to have been connected to the person by blood or marriage.

Examples of an individual’s relatives—

an individual’s spouse, child (including a child 18 years or more), stepchild, parent, step-parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, nephew, cousin, half-brother, mother-in-law or aunt-in-law

Examples of an individual’s former relatives—

• the person who would be the individual’s mother-in-law if the individual was still in a spousal relationship with the person’s son or daughter

• the person who would be the step-parent of the individual if the spousal relationship between the person and the person’s former spouse, the individual’s parent, had not ended

• the individual’s step-siblings when the parent they do not have in common has died

(3) For deciding if someone is connected by marriage, any 2 persons who are or were spouses of each other are considered to be or to have been married to each other.

(4) A
"relative" of a person (the
"first person" ) is also either of the following persons if it is or was reasonable to regard the person as a relative especially considering that for some people the concept of a relative may be wider than is ordinarily understood—

(a) a person whom the first person regards or regarded as a relative;

(b) a person who regards or regarded himself or herself as a relative of the first person.

Examples of people who may have a wider concept of a relative—

• Aboriginal people

• Torres Strait Islanders

• members of certain communities with non-English speaking backgrounds

• people with particular religious beliefs

(5) In deciding if a person is a relative of someone else—

(a) a subsection of this section must not be used to limit another subsection of this section; and

(b) each subsection is to have effect even though, as a result, a person may be considered to be a relative who would not ordinarily be understood to be a relative.