The group were in a 'triangular relationship' for about 15 years. Photo / 123RF
The group were in a 'triangular relationship' for about 15 years. Photo / 123RF
One of the members of a polyamorous ex-throuple has praised a Supreme Court decision that says they may all be entitled to a share of their multi-million dollar former home.
Brett Paul said the court’s ruling was “just and fair”, and that it provided legal recognition of the years he and his two ex-partners had spent together.
Brett, ex-wife Lilach Paul, and ex-partner Fiona Mead were all in a romantic relationship with one another from the late 90s, and lived together on a 4-hectare property in Kumeū for 15 years.
Brett and Lilach were already married when they brought Fiona into their relationship in 2002 and formed a throuple - a situation in which all three people were romantically connected to each other in what the court referred to as a “triangular relationship”.
They moved into the Kumeū home together, which had just been purchased in Mead’s name for $533,000. She paid the deposit of $40,000.
All three worked and contributed to the household until 2017 when Lilach broke up with Mead and Brett, who in turn broke up in 2018, with Mead continuing to live at the property.
In 2019 Lilach went to the Family Court to have the property divided under the Property (Relationships) Act 1976, triggering a string of legal cases all the way to the Supreme Court.
Today the court ruled the Family Court has jurisdiction to divide the property between the three, a decision that is the first of its kind in New Zealand.
“Brett is extremely pleased with the decision made today by the Supreme Court which, for the first time, confirms the legal position of a three-person relationship in the laws of New Zealand and what happens when the relationships break down,” said Brett’s lawyer, James Duckworth.
“Having lived in such a relationship for 15 years, he believes this decision to be fair and just. To Brett, this recognises the years Fiona, Lilach and himself spent together and all the hard work that they did.
“It also justifies the prolonged legal cases that have been heard before the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.”
The appeal was heard in the Supreme Court in Wellington.
Brett now hoped they could finally resolve matters between themselves, which he had hoped they would have been able to do in 2017 and 2018 when their relationships ended, Duckworth said.
Today’s decision divided the Supreme Court judges, with three ruling the Family Court had jurisdiction and two disagreeing.
Justices Susan Glazebrook and Ellen France cited concerns about the “artificiality” of treating the parties’ relationship as “subdivisible” to qualify under the Act.
The majority ruling had found that while a triangular relationship in itself did not qualify under the Act, Fiona, Brett and Lilach’s throuple could be broken down into three separate, qualifying relationships which did fit under the Act.
But Justices Glazebook and France said this effectively “shoehorned” their relationship into the “coupledom paradigm” and treated their relationship as “other than what it has been”.
They also raised concerns about how future cases would be worked through in the courts if they were more complex than this one, and said it should have been up to Parliament to extend the Act to polyamorous groups if necessary.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice, and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
