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Difference between revisions of "Unmarried Spouses"
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→Time Limits
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To be clear, though, mere roommates will never qualify as unmarried spouses. There needs to be some other dimension to the relationship indicative of a committment between the parties and their shared belief that they are in a special relationship with each other. | To be clear, though, mere roommates will never qualify as unmarried spouses. There needs to be some other dimension to the relationship indicative of a committment between the parties and their shared belief that they are in a special relationship with each other. | ||
=== Time Limits=== | ===Time Limits=== | ||
While a claim for child support with respect to a child of the parties will remain open until the child reaches the age of 19, and possibly longer, there are three important things you need to know about claims for spousal support and claims for child support against stepparents: | While a claim for child support with respect to a child of the parties will remain open until the child reaches the age of 19, and possibly longer, there are three important things you need to know about claims for spousal support and claims for child support against stepparents: | ||
*A claim for child support against a spouse who is stepparent must be brought within ''one year'' of the stepparent's last contribution to the support of the child, and cannot be brought until ''after the spouses have separated''. | |||
A claim for child support against a | *An unmarried spouse must bring a claim for spousal support within ''two years'' of the date of separation. | ||
*An unmarried spouse must bring a claim for the division of property and debt within ''two years'' of the date of separation. | |||
''Bringing a claim'' means starting a court proceeding asking for a particular order, not the date when the first application is made in that proceeding. | |||
The date of separation is the date when the "marriage-like" quality of an unmarried relationship ends. As a result, the marriage-like quality of a relationship can terminate before a couple physically separates, and the time limits will usually begin to run from that date rather than the date someone moves out. | |||
===Effect of Dispute Resolution Processes=== | |||
Under s. 198(5) of the ''Family Law Act'', the running of the time limits is "is suspended during any period in which persons are engaged in family dispute resolution with a family dispute resolution professional." The purpose of this provision is to allow people to engage in dispute resolution without having to feel pressured into starting a court proceeding to stop a time limit from running out. However, this provision isn't a straightforward as it looks. | |||
First, the parties have to be engaged in a process of ''family dispute resolution''. That term is defined in s. 1 of the act as including: | |||
#the services of a Family Justice Counsellor; | |||
#mediation; | |||
#collaborative settlement processes; and, | |||
#arbitration. | |||
You'll notice that negotiation isn't on this list. As well, under the Family Law Act Regulation, a process of mediation and arbitration requires the execution of a mediation agreement or an arbitration agreement to count as mediation or arbitration. | |||
Second, the parties have to be engaged in one of these processes with a ''family dispute resolution professional''. This term is defined in s. 1 of the act as including: | |||
#Family Justice Counsellors; | |||
#lawyers; | |||
#mediators who meet the training requirements set out in the Family Law Act Regulation; and, | |||
#arbitrators who meet the training requirements set out in the Family Law Act Regulation. | |||
In other words, being engaged in a family dispute resolution process with someone like a community leader, an elder, a senior family member, a priest, an imam or a rabbi won't cut it unless the person also happens to fit into the definition of family dispute resolution professional. | |||
Third, the parties must be ''engaged'' in the family dispute resolution process. That implies a process that is continuing and underway, rather than one which is started but never followed-through with. | |||
====Effect of Attempts to Reconcile==== | ====Effect of Attempts to Reconcile==== | ||
The ''Divorce Act'' talks about how the one year period a married couple must wait in order to get divorced on the basis of separation is not interrupted if the parties live together in an attempt to reconcile for less than ninety days. Similar language is used in the ''Family Law Act'' for the purpose of determining the date when a couple stops accumulating family property. Neither of these provisions apply to the two year time limit for bringing claims under the ''Family Law Act''. | |||
==Rights and Responsibilities of Unmarried Spouses== | ==Rights and Responsibilities of Unmarried Spouses== | ||
