2,665
edits
Difference between revisions of "Spousal Support"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→An Introduction to Spousal Support
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
No matter if one spouse was working during the relationship or both worked, the fact is that during the relationship there was only one mortgage payment to make, only one hydro bill and only one cable bill. After the relationship ends, there are two rent payments, two hydro bills and two sets of groceries to buy, all of which must be paid out of the same pool of income that supported the family before separation. | No matter if one spouse was working during the relationship or both worked, the fact is that during the relationship there was only one mortgage payment to make, only one hydro bill and only one cable bill. After the relationship ends, there are two rent payments, two hydro bills and two sets of groceries to buy, all of which must be paid out of the same pool of income that supported the family before separation. | ||
To be clear, however, a spousal relationship, whether married or unmarried, does not in itself establish a right to life-long support | To be clear, however, a spousal relationship, whether married or unmarried, does not in itself establish a right to life-long support. When a spousal relationship ends, each party needs to become financially independent and self-sufficient as soon as possible. As the judge said in the 1997 Supreme Court case of ''Dumais-Koski v. Koski'', "marriage is not a legal institution created for the redistribution of wealth." Or, as the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench put it in the 2005 case of ''V.S. v. A.K.'': | ||
<blockquote>"A person does not acquire a lifetime pension as a result of marriage. Likewise, marriage is not an insurance policy."</blockquote> | <blockquote>"A person does not acquire a lifetime pension as a result of marriage. Likewise, marriage is not an insurance policy."</blockquote> | ||