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When you separate from your spouse (common-law or married), your entitlement to government benefits may change significantly. Remember, the amount of your CCTB and your GST credit payments is dependent on your family net income based on the information Canada Revenue Agency has from your income tax returns.

Once you have been separated for 90 days, you become entitled to have your CCTB and GST credit payments be recalculated based on your new family net income, likely significantly lower than you and your spouse together. In order to have your benefits recalculated, you must submit a CRA document entitled …

While you are working, you will acquire CPP credits to you as an individual. Similarly, your working spouse will accumulate CPP credits. The number of credits you receive is based on your income level. These credits are considered to be assets when you and your spouse separate. Just like your vehicle or your house, these CPP credits may be split between you and your former spouse.

You will be eligible for a credit split if:

1. You are divorced (no time limit for applying)
2. You are married, have lived together for at least 1 year, and have lived apart for at least …

Is this news to you? I just read about a recent survey conducted by BMO in August 2011 of Canadians going thru divorce suggesting that financial security over the short- and long-term are of primary concern when deciding whether to split from their spouse.

The top 3 concerns were: the family home (53%), pensions (17%) and investments (13%).

When I see these numbers, I am not surprised in the least.  Going from two incomes to support one household to two incomes to support two households is obviously going to put a significant amount of strain on the family resources.  Most clients anticipate …

If spouses hold property in joint names, the law presumes that you intend to share that property equally. When you and your spouse separate, once joint tenancy is severed, you will be presumed to each have an equal one-half interest in the property. Therefore, although it may be that one party did not contribute financially to the house during the relationship, that non-contributing spouse may be entitled to half of the profit (or half of the outstanding debt) from the eventual sale of the house because their name is on title.

This same principle works with money deposited into a jointly …

When you meet with your lawyer or mediator, they will provide a questionnaire for you to complete which includes a list of all of your assets and debts.  The following is a list of common types of property which you will have to provide details about:

• Real estate – matrimonial home, recreational properties, etc. including mortgages
• Pension Plan details – obtain a Statement of Division of Pension On Marriage Breakdown
• RRSPs
• Bank Accounts – chequing, savings, investments, credit union equity accounts
• Vehicles – household and recreational (quads, snowmobiles, watercrafts)
• Life Insurance Policies
• Points Accounts – Aeroplan, Air Miles, Co-Op, HBC, etc.
• Business Interests
• Personal Loans – lines of credit,

…

Yes. It is very common in separation agreements or court orders to separate property that RRSPs are also subject to a division, or effectively redistribution, between former spouses. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) imposes certain technical requirements on you and your spouse before it will allow such a division. The first hurdle: you and your spouse must be living separate and apart. In addition, the division must arise as a result of your separation and it must form part of a written agreement or a court order relating to a division of property.

Once you have satisfied these requirements, you must now …

Before deciding which spouse will keep what property, spouses must determine whether their property is inside or outside the realm of “divisible” property. The determination may be different depending on which side of the Alberta / Saskatchewan border you are on. The one important difference is that the Alberta Matrimonial Property Act applies only to married couples, whereas the Saskatchewan Family Property Act applies to married and to unmarried spouses who have lived together as spouses for not less than 2 years. Unmarried couples in Alberta may also divide their property, but that topic is beyond the scope of this …

It definitely matters which side of the border you are on.

In Saskatchewan, the law is friendly towards unmarried partners. Once you have been living together as spouses for two years, you automatically become “spouses” under the Family Property Act. This means that you have all the advantages (and disadvantages) of dividing property that you acquired together from when you became spouses (the two-year mark) until you break-up. There are complex rules as to what property is included or excluded from this division.

On the Alberta side it is more complicated. The Matrimonial Property Act only applies to married spouses, therefore unmarried …