Lorne MacLean Q.C. and MacLean Law’s experienced lawyers applaud the changes to the Vancouver Family Property Division portion of the BC Family Law Act. There are two key definitions that our Vancouver family property division lawyers apply to Vancouver and BC family property division cases to ensure fair property division when couples are separating.
The following simple summary is taken form the Provincial Government’s excellent website that explains the new act and how our Vancouver Family Property Division Lawyers apply it :
1. BC Common Law Spouses Have Rights
The property division rules will apply to all married spouses, as well as to unmarried spouses who have lived in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years. The inclusion of unmarried spouses in the property division guidelines recognizes the number of common-law relationships is on the rise and that common-law remedy of constructive trusts inadequately protects the interests of this growing number of unmarried spouses.
2. BC Family and Excluded Property
The Family Law Act moves to an excluded property model that involves less judicial discretion, particularly at the initial stage of identifying which assets are subject to division. It will no longer rely on a two-stage process of identifying the property subject to division and then determining if that property has an “ordinary use for a family purpose,” as provided for in the Family Relations Act.
Family property will include all real and personal property owned by one or both spouses at the date of separation unless the asset in question is excluded, in which case only the increase in the value of the asset during the relationship is divisible. Whether an asset was ordinarily used for a family purpose will not be relevant in deciding if it is family property.
The exclusions include:
- property acquired before or after the relationship;
- gifts or inheritances;
- damage awards and insurance proceeds with some exceptions; and
- some kinds of trust property.
The excluded property division model is a better fit with people’s expectations about what is fair: they share the property and debt that they accrue together during their relationship.
Our Vancouver family property division lawyers are ready to help you deal with simple to complex excluded and family property division cases. Book a consultation with us to ensure you obtain a fair family property division settlement. Call today to meet a MacLean Law lawyer in Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna or Fort St. John.
Resources:
The provincial government has an excellent resource called “The Family Law Act Explained’. Details are outlined in Part 5 of the Vancouver Family Property Division section of the Act.
