Western Australian Consolidated Acts

ADOPTION ACT 1994 - SECT 65

65 .         Jurisdiction

        (1)         An adoption order in relation to a person is not to be made unless, at the time when the application for the order is filed — 

            (a)         either —

                  (i)         the person is present in the State and is permitted under a law of the Commonwealth to remain permanently in Australia; or

                  (ii)         the person, having been born in the State, is present in the State;

                and        

            (b)         each prospective adoptive parent resides, or is domiciled, in the State.

        (2)         For the purposes of subsection (1), if in the proceedings for the application the Court is satisfied that the person was present in, or that each prospective adoptive parent was resident or domiciled in the State, on a day within 21 days before the day on which the application was filed, the Court may, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, presume that the person was present in, or that each prospective adoptive parent was resident or domiciled in, the State at the time when the application was filed.

        (3)         The Court has jurisdiction under this section to make an adoption order despite any rule of private international law to the contrary.

        [Section 65 amended by No. 8 of 2003 s. 34(1).]