Canadian Matrimonial Property Law

While mostly weddings are considered to be the alliances of hearts and souls, every wedding also has a legal background, changes in rights and most important changes in property. In Canada the Matrimonial Property is described as property owned by one or both of married spouses. Needles to say that property and child support are the two most argued problems during a usual divorce so in this article we will write about Matrimonial Property Law in Canada. It was initially established that after the marriage the property becomes common, but during a long period of the development and creation if the Common Law only the husband had the rights to manage the matrimonial property. But with time, when the legal definition and status of the family changed, women also obtained the right to manage property and naturally that brought in some additional legal rules.

While there are numerous differences Matrimonial property law in each province and territory has some general things in common. This law defines what things are considered matrimonial property, applies to spouses automatically upon marriage, says whether or not matrimonial property rights apply to common-law couples in the same way as married couples, describes rights and interests during marriage (or a common-law relationship, depending on the province or territory), describes how to divide matrimonial property upon marriage breakdown, provides for the enforcement of agreements regarding matrimonial property, provides special rights in regard to the family home. Also in different cases the spouses can ask the court for following matrimonial property decisions and protections: an order for temporary or permanent possession of the family home, permission to sell the family home in order to divide the sale price between the spouses, an order preventing the sale of the family home without the consent of both spouses, protection against a spouse unreasonably disposing matrimonial property, such as cash in a joint bank account. 

The four western Canadian provinces still keep the Dower Act, this act is a very old spouse protection mechanism. It guarantees the widow a third of the matrimonial property, if no adultery was committed by her during the marriage. Also the western provinces keep the "homestead legislation", it prohibits the sale of the family home without the consent of the wife and a number of other acts that protect the family home. So as you see the joint property is a very serious thing and it is accordingly regulated by various laws. Various provinces have various laws and legislations concerning this type of property and there are numerous cases that can be examined during the case when the property is divided. There is a good movie The War of The Roses that shows a huge complexity of the Matrimonial Property during a divorce. There is a spectacular scene, when Danny De Vito (who plays the family lawyer) throws a huge book on the table, with the words “I found a similar case”. So if you need to solve a property issue with your ex-wife don’t even start discussing it without a lawyer. Also a marriage contract that regulates the property in case of a divorce is a good solution, we already wrote about these documents so you can just search our blog for all the details.

For more information regarding Wills lawyers, Family Lawyers, Divorce Lawyers and Canadian Lawyer please visit: www.lawyerahead.ca