By David Harris-Lowe, partner, Family Law
Which spouse owns the family home, whether you’re married or in a common law relationship, matters. The rules around ownership are important and can make a significant difference to how property issues get resolved. Some rules that are often surprising to people include:
a) When you get…
Catherine Hyde, Family Law Clerk
I have recently been involved with a number of cases dealing with “Excluded Property” in order to determine whether certain items of property can be excluded from the “net family property” calculation. To determine this one first needs to look at the Family Law Act
Section 4(2) of the Family…
A recent Court of Appeal decision has caused considerable concern in relation to the certainty of the statutory provisions being applied to determine net family property equalization between legal married spouses.
Sections 4 and 5 of the Family Law Act have, to date, been viewed as all encompassing statutory direction in the division of net…
There are so many people who believe that when they separate from their married or common law partner, the law automatically requires them to divide the property they own equally between them. People believe that common law partners eventually acquire the same rights as married partners if they live together long enough. Most of us…
Although Ontario common law spouses have a statutory right to receive spousal support upon separation, there is no statutory recognition of common law spouses in claims for property. The Family Law Act, in dealing with equalization of net family property, limits spouses to legal married spouses only.
Courts in Ontario, however, have historically granted…
