About Division of Property

"Property" includes things such as the home you and your spouse shared, its contents, any other real estate, pensions from employment, Canada or Quebec Pension Plan credits, RRSPs, investments, bank accounts and cash and even pets.

When you marry someone or, depending on the law in your province, live with a common–law partner, it is not just your life that becomes joined with someone else’s. Usually, many of the belongings you acquired while married or living together become joined too, especially if you were together for a long time. For example, maybe you bought a house and furniture together. Maybe one of you already owned the house, but the other one invested time, money and effort to fix it up. Maybe you opened up joint savings and investment accounts.

There are also the smaller purchases that may not be very valuable on their own, but they could be worth a lot of money when you put them all together. Or, some items may have sentimental value even if they did not cost a lot.

If you then decide to separate or divorce, it can be very challenging to determine who should get what.

Under Canada’s Constitution, the provinces and territories are responsible for laws that set out the rules for dividing property when couples divorce or separate. These laws may vary from one province or territory to another.

You may wish to seek legal advice to ensure that you receive the share of the property that you are entitled to according to the law. Many provinces have lawyer referral services that can refer you to a lawyer who will offer the first consultation free of charge or at a lower price than usual. Information on property law in your province or territory may also be available from your provincial Minister of Justice/Attorney General.

In addition, many of the provinces and territories offer family justice services such as mediation to help separating and divorcing couples negotiate agreements on how the property should be divided.