Basic Principles of Property and Debt in Family Law: Difference between revisions
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Basic Principles of Property and Debt in Family Law (view source)
Revision as of 02:46, 19 April 2013
, 19 April 2013→Family property and family debt
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<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(b) after the date of separation, if incurred for the purpose of maintaining family property.</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | <blockquote><blockquote><tt>(b) after the date of separation, if incurred for the purpose of maintaining family property.</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | ||
In other words, all of the debt accumulating from the date the spouses began to live together or got married, whichever is earlier, to the ''date of separation'' is family debt. Family debt includes debt that is incurred ''after separation'' if the debt was incurred for family property, for example when if a spouse takes out a loan to make the mortgage payments on the family home. Since family home family property, the loan is a family debt that both spouses are responsible for. | In other words, all of the debt accumulating from the date the spouses began to live together or got married, whichever is earlier, to the ''date of separation'' is family debt. Family debt includes debt that is incurred ''after separation'' if the debt was incurred for family property, for example when if a spouse takes out a loan to make the mortgage payments on the family home. Since the family home is family property, the loan is a family debt that both spouses are responsible for. | ||
====The triggering event==== | ====The triggering event==== | ||
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=====How property is owned===== | =====How property is owned===== | ||
There are two ways that more than one person can own the same property in British Columbia: they can own the property as "joint tenants" or as "tenants in common" | There are two ways that more than one person can own the same property in British Columbia: they can own the property as "joint tenants" or as "tenants in common." | ||
When two or more people own a thing as ''joint tenants'', they are each owners of the whole thing. This is a fuzzy kind of shared ownership because the interests of one owner can't be separated out from the interests of the other because they each own the whole thing. To put it another way, a joint tenant doesn't own a particular slice of the pie, a joint tenant owns the whole pie. | When two or more people own a thing as ''joint tenants'', they are each owners of the whole thing. This is a fuzzy kind of shared ownership because the interests of one owner can't be separated out from the interests of the other because they each own the whole thing. To put it another way, a joint tenant doesn't own a particular slice of the pie, a joint tenant owns the whole pie. | ||
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====The valuation of property and valuation date==== | ====The valuation of property and valuation date==== | ||
Although pool of family property to be shared between spouses is crystallized when the triggering event happens, under s. 87(b), ''value'' of the property is not fixed until the date of the trial or agreement that divides the property. This makes sense, because it can take two or three years for the division of property to wrap up at a trial, and it can even take a number of months to finish an agreement for the division of property. | Although the pool of family property to be shared between spouses is crystallized when the triggering event happens, under s. 87(b), ''value'' of the property is not fixed until the date of the trial or agreement that divides the property. This makes sense, because it can take two or three years for the division of property to wrap up at a trial, and it can even take a number of months to finish an agreement for the division of property. | ||
Under s. 87(a), the value of property is its ''fair market value'', amount a reasonable buyer would pay for the property ''in its current condition'' not the purchase price of the property, the insured value of the property or the replacement cost of the property. In other words, value of the reconstituted leather living room suite you got from the Brick for $999 five years ago isn't what ''you'' paid for it, it's the $100 that someone would likely give you for it at the date of the trial or agreement. | Under s. 87(a), the value of property is its ''fair market value'', the amount a reasonable buyer would pay for the property ''in its current condition'', not the purchase price of the property, the insured value of the property, or the replacement cost of the property. In other words, value of the reconstituted leather living room suite you got from the Brick for $999 five years ago isn't what ''you'' paid for it, it's the $100 that someone would likely give you for it at the date of the trial or agreement. | ||
===Excluded property=== | ===Excluded property=== | ||