For Married Couples

Frequent questions

Going through a family breakdown can bring financial uncertainty. Some of our clients have the following concerns or questions:

• I don’t understand anything because my spouse took care of the finances. I am scared.
• Can we afford two properties in this neighbourhood?
• We both own shares of the business but we can’t co-own if we don’t talk to each other. What are some of our options?
• Who is entitled to keep the house?
• What if my name is not on title of certain assets?
• We did income-splitting. How does it work after a separation?
• My spouse wants to use their accountant to do a business valuation, am I protected?
• Does a professional business (accountant, dentist, law, engineer, architect) have value for property division?
• Are there tax advantages if we transfer assets between ourselves rather than selling assets to generate the funds to pay the equalization?

I am here to guide you so that you have understanding, clarity, and a range of choices that will enable you to achieve a settlement that meets your needs and that are respectful towards the needs of other family members.

Applicable law

Separating families will turn their minds to how to separate their property.

Married couples have the right to an equal share of the family’s property. We refer to this as an equalization of net family property.

The equalization is a simple mathematic formula once we know the values of the assets and the debts.

We do a list of the value of all assets each spouse has on the date of separation, we subtract each of their debts in existence at the date of separation, and we then also subtract the value of certain assets that were brought into the marriage. This formula generates each spouse’s net family property.

Some assets don’t get divided, such as gifts from third parties or inheritances received during the marriage.

The final step is that the spouse with the higher net family property value will give the other spouse one-half of the difference between the value of their respective net family property.

Whether I represent you as your collaborative lawyer, or if I work with both of you as a mediator, I help you to create a detailed inventory of all property, assets and liabilities, figure out if there are assets that do not get divided, and then facilitate a fair and equitable property division.

I am here to guide you so that you have understanding, clarity, and a range of choices that will enable you to achieve a settlement that meets your needs and that are respectful towards the needs of other family members.

For common law couples

Frequent questions

Going through a family breakdown can bring financial uncertainty. Some of our clients have the following concerns or questions:

• We are common law; does that mean we don’t share assets on separation?
• What do we do with our joint house on separation?
• I made significant contributions to the assets of my former spouse; how do I recover my contributions?
• I heard that if we have been together for a long time, we may have to share assets on separation. How does this work?
• Who is entitled to keep the house?

Applicable law

In Ontario, the division of assets is based on ownership and there is no law giving couples the right to equalize the assets accumulated during their relationship.

If this results in an unfair situation — for example, if a spouse made significant contributions to the maintenance or increase in value of the assets of the other — they have to resort to equitable principles, namely “unjust enrichment,” to address their claims of inequitable distribution of assets upon the breakdown of the relationship.

Since an important decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2011, Kerr v. Baranow, [2011] 1 S.C.R. 269, unmarried spouses can now resort to the concept of “joint family venture.” To be able to establish that there was unjust enrichment arising from a joint family venture, the person who is not on the title must demonstrate that a joint family venture existed and that there is a link between that person’s contribution to the joint family venture and the accumulation of wealth or assets.

It would be fairly difficult for the non-owner spouse to establish a trust interest in assets that were gifted to the other spouse considering that they did nothing to participate in the acquisition of this asset.

Whether I represent you as your collaborative lawyer, or if I work with both of you as a mediator, I help you to create a detailed inventory of all property, assets and liabilities, figure out if there are assets that do not get divided, and then facilitate a fair and equitable property division.

Tax and business considerations

There are often tax or property valuation issues that require the expertise of an accountant, an actuary or a business valuator to support our work.

I work with a network of professionals to shed light on certain tax and financial issues related to various settlement options, for example, the implication of transferring assets between spouses vs selling. This helps you weigh different possible courses of actions so that your choices are informed and make sense.

Financial Disclosure

Separating spouses are required to exchange financial disclosure. We give you check lists and fillable forms to facilitate your and our work.

With the support of our clerk, we try to make it easy for you to give us your financial documents, either through uploading them directly into our secure client portal, or in whatever other way that works better for you.

I guide the parties to work collaboratively when possible, to create a plan that meets the financial needs of each spouse and the family, while minimizing conflict and stress.

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