ABSTRACT
The Family Law Act 1996 renames the rights of occupation that used to exist under the Matrimonial Homes Act 1983 as matrimonial home rights, and these rights are defined in s 30(2). A court order under s 33 of the Act will be needed before a spouse can be excluded from the dwelling house. The significant change introduced is that these rights exist, not only in relation to dwelling houses that are the joint homes of the parties, but are extended to cover dwelling houses that the parties intended to be their joint homes, even though they may never have lived there together.
