Legal Briefs, Issue #2

New Legislation to be introduced for common-law partners

However, there is a difference between a property division in a break up of a common law relationship and a separation when the parties are married.

Under the Matrimonial Property Act, which applies to persons who are married, there is a presumption of a 50/50 split of assets which have been accumulated during the marriage. This is not the case in a common-law separation, where the Matrimonial Property Act obviously does not apply as the parties are not married. Instead, upon a common-law break up, each party must provide evidence to prove their entitlement to a division of these assets, which the parties have accumulated during their common-law relationship. This often leads to expensive litigation for the parties involved in having to provide their entitlement to a share in the parties’ assets.

A new Bill put forward by the Provincial Government, known as Bill 28, which will become the Family Property Act, will finally tackle this problem by specifically addressing how property is to be divided when common-law partners split up. Hopefully this will now remove the uncertainty and should result in making it easier for common-law partners to reach property settlement should their relationship end.