Can I Stop My Spouse From Selling Assets After Separation in Alberta?
This answer covers the law of Alberta.
Yes, the Court can step in. Under Alberta's Family Property Act, the Court can restrain a planned transfer or gift that could defeat your claim, even while you and your spouse still live together, and it can do so without notice to the other person. A caveat is not the tool here: the Act uses a certificate of lis pendens instead.
Once you have started proceedings, you can file a certificate of lis pendens with the Registrar of Land Titles, and later instruments affecting that land are subject to your claim. If a transfer was already made to defeat your claim, the Court can order the property returned, give a money judgment against the recipient, or count the property as part of the transferor's share, but only if the recipient was not a bona fide purchaser for value and knew or ought to have known the purpose. Action against a recipient is allowed only for transfers made not more than one year before the application.
Time limits and the details of your situation matter, so it is worth speaking with a lawyer quickly if you are worried about property disappearing.
Key takeaways
- The Court can restrain a planned transfer or gift that could defeat your claim, even while you and your spouse still live together, and it can do so without notice.
- Once proceedings have started, a party who knows of them must not dispose of or encumber household goods or remove household items from the home without consent or a court order, and breaking this rule is an offence with a fine of up to $1,000.
- For land, the tool is a certificate of lis pendens filed with the Registrar of Land Titles, not a caveat.
- If property was already transferred to defeat your claim, the Court can order it returned or give a money judgment against the recipient, but only in limited circumstances.