Can financial control by a spouse count as family violence under the 2021 Divorce Act definition?

Yes. The Divorce Act's definition of family violence, added in the 2021 reforms, expressly includes financial abuse as one of the recognized forms of family violence, alongside physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and threatening or controlling behaviour. This can include things like restricting a spouse's access to money or financial information, controlling their ability to work or access their own income, or running up debt in a way designed to control or harm them.

Because family violence is a named factor in deciding parenting time and decision-making responsibility, evidence of financial control can be directly relevant to a parenting case, not just to a separate support or property claim — a court will consider what the financial control shows about the relationship dynamic and its effect on the ability to safely co-parent. Financial abuse can be harder to recognize and document than physical violence, so account records, communications about money, and a clear timeline of what access was restricted and when tend to matter a great deal in establishing the pattern.