Family Law Act: Family Property

The Family Law Act consists of 6 main sections. The sections include Family Property,

Matrimonial Home, Support Obligations, Domestic Contracts, Dependants’ claim for damages

and Amendments to the common Law. Each section gives an in-depth explanation. In

this article we will look at the first section, namely Family Property.

In Ontario, the division of property when the marriage breaks down is called equalization. This

process entails each spouse calculating his/her net family property following a set of standards

under the Family Law Act. At the end the spouse with less net family property is entitled to half

of the difference from the spouse with the higher net family property.

In extraordinary cases, when the court is of the opinion that equalizing the family property might

be unfair, the court may give a spouse a higher or lower amount than the equalization

payment. The court will take the following into consideration:

1. If a spouse fails to disclose existing debts or liabilities on the date of marriage.

2. A part of the spouse’s portion of the family property includes gifts from the other spouse.

3. The intentional reckless squandering of a spouse’s portion of the family property

4. A written agreement which is not a domestic contract in existence between the spouses.

It is therefore the court’s earnest intention to create an equal allocation of assets between

spouses.

To learn more about family law act in Ontario, please visit http://bakerandbakerlaw.com/