How Long Do Common-Law Partners Have to Make a Property Claim in Manitoba?

When a common-law relationship ends, the question of who keeps the house, the savings and the vehicles often gets pushed aside while life settles. In Manitoba, though, property claims run on a clock, and the clock is different for common-law partners than it is for married spouses.

This article explains the deadlines under The Family Property Act, who counts as a common-law partner for property purposes, which older separations may be excluded, and what an equalization claim involves. It is general information, not advice on your situation, and the dates in your own case are worth confirming with a lawyer.

This article covers the law of Manitoba.

The deadlines at a glance

Under The Family Property Act, a claim cannot simply be brought whenever you like. The deadline depends on whether you were married or common-law, and for common-law partners, whether the dissolution of the relationship was registered.

For married spouses, the court may extend the 60-day period in specified circumstances. Whether an extension is realistic in a particular case is a question for a lawyer, and you should not plan around getting one.

Who counts as a common-law partner for property

For property claims, The Family Property Act defines a common-law partner as a person who registered a common-law relationship under The Vital Statistics Act, or who cohabited with the other person in a conjugal relationship for at least three years. Registering is voluntary.

This is where people get caught out, because different statutes use different tests. Under The Family Law Act, which deals with support, a couple can qualify after one year if they are together the parents of a child. The Family Property Act and The Homesteads Act define a common-law partner by registration or three years of cohabitation. Whether the one-year-with-a-child rule helps with a property claim is worth confirming with a lawyer. If you lived together for more than a year but less than three, and did not register, get advice before assuming a property claim is available.

Once you meet the property definition, common-law partners are covered by the same accounting and equal-sharing rules as spouses.

Older separations may be excluded

Section 2.1(2) of The Family Property Act generally excludes couples who had cohabited for three years and separated before section 2.1 came into force. There is an exception: the exclusion does not apply if they resumed cohabiting and then either registered or cohabited for at least 90 days after that date.

If your relationship ended a long time ago, this rule may matter more than the three-year deadline. It turns on exact dates, so gather them early.

What a property claim involves

Each spouse and common-law partner has the right, on application, to an accounting and, subject to section 14, an equalization of assets. The combined value is divided into two equal shares unless the court orders otherwise under section 14.

• The claim is made to the Court of King's Bench.
• The person applying must file and serve a sworn statement of assets and liabilities.
• The other person has 14 days to respond with a similar statement.
• The court may make interim orders while the claim is underway.

The type of asset matters. A family asset is one used for shelter, transportation, or household, educational, recreational, social or aesthetic purposes, and it includes the family home. A court may alter equal sharing of family assets only if equalization would be grossly unfair or unconscionable. For commercial assets, the threshold is lower: the sharing must be clearly inequitable.

If you have a written agreement, it may change the result. The Act does not apply to an asset disposed of by a common-law relationship agreement, but assets the agreement does not address remain subject to the Act.

A separate two-year window for dissipation

Conduct is generally disregarded when property is divided, unless it amounts to dissipation. If you believe your former partner wasted assets or made excessive gifts or transfers, you have two years from the transfer or dissipation, or from its discovery, to challenge it.

That two-year period is separate from the three-year or 60-day deadline above. Keep track of both, and note when you first learned of any transfer.

These property deadlines do not tell you anything about spousal support, which falls under a different statute. Ask a lawyer about any support claim separately rather than assuming the same clock applies.

What to do next

• Write down the date you began living separate and apart, and any date you registered or dissolved a registration.
• Work out how long you lived together and whether you ever registered under The Vital Statistics Act.
• List your assets and debts, with account statements, land titles, vehicle documents and recent tax returns.
• Note any transfers, large gifts or unexplained withdrawals, and when you found out about them.
• Find any cohabitation or other written agreement you signed.
• Speak with a lawyer well before the earliest possible deadline, since the dates depend on your facts.

Frequently asked questions