Property Division - General

Property Division

Where Will You Land?

Where will you live once your separation is complete? Will you have to sell the family home? Can you afford to maintain the family home? How will the value of large assets, like a pension, a business or real estate, be shared when a relationship ends? Must you share your inheritance with your spouse? Must you share gifts received by you with your spouse? Uncertainty about these types of questions can lead to worry.

Married Spouses & Property

Finances, Property Division - General

In Ontario, married spouses are expected to equalize the value of all of the property that they acquired during their marriage, with certain specific exceptions, which are discussed below.

Common-Law Spouses & Property

Finances, Property Division - General

Will You Be Entitled to ½?

Many unmarried, cohabiting couples assume that, if they separate, each of them will share one-half of all of the assets, or wealth, that they accumulated as a couple. This is an inaccurate, though widely held, belief. An unmarried, cohabiting spouse does not have any automatic right to share in the property of his or her partner, in the event that they separate.