Checklist · Social Security & Veterans' Entitlements
Member of a couple: factors worksheet
A worksheet of the five factors in Social Security Guide topic 2.2.5.30, used to gather documents before anyone forms an opinion about whether two people are a couple.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the authority it cites, for Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a Centrelink decision turns on whether a person is a member of a couple. It collects documents against the Guide's factors. It does not record a conclusion, and it does not draft the person's statement.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may sort documents the person has supplied against the five factors; the practitioner forms no conclusion in the worksheet and does not draft the person's account.
AI may
- List documents under the five factors named in the Guide
- Flag that the Guide says no single factor is conclusive and that all five need not be present
- Flag a shared house that may still be a separation, because the Guide says emotional estrangement can exist under one roof
AI must not
- Must not decide that the person is, or is not, a member of a couple
- Must not draft the person's statement about the relationship
- Must not treat the Guide's cross-references to topics 2.2.5.40 and 2.2.5.50 as if those topics had been read
The lawyer checks
- The five factors are all considered, and a missing factor is recorded as unknown rather than as a point against the person
- Family and domestic violence, including financial abuse, is considered in the way the Guide requires, without a narrative being written here
- A paid care relationship is not treated as a couple relationship
- The special-reason discretion is followed into topic 2.2.5.40 before anyone relies on it; that topic was not opened
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
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