What Is the Start Date of a Common-Law Relationship in BC?

If you lived with a partner without marrying, the date your relationship began can shape how property is divided. It affects whether you count as spouses at all, and it affects which assets are treated as yours alone.

Often the two of you will remember that date differently. This article explains how British Columbia's Family Law Act fixes the start date, why it matters, and what happens when you disagree.

This article covers the law of British Columbia.

When you count as spouses

Under the Family Law Act, a person is a spouse if they are married, or if they have lived with another person in a marriage-like relationship for a continuous period of at least 2 years. Property division rules apply to unmarried couples who meet that two-year test.

There is an exception. Someone who has lived in a marriage-like relationship for less than 2 years is still a spouse if they have a child with the other person, but only outside the property division and pension division parts of the Act. A child together can therefore open the door to support and parenting matters, but not to property division.

How the start date is fixed

A relationship between spouses begins on the earlier of the date they began to live together in a marriage-like relationship and the date of their marriage. Once the 2-year threshold is met, the relationship is counted from the start of living together, not from the day the two years were completed.

The two years must be continuous. The Act does not list a fixed set of proof factors for a marriage-like relationship, so courts look at the evidence case by case. Moving in together, sharing expenses and presenting yourselves as a couple are the sort of things people often point to, but how they are weighed depends on the facts.

Why the start date matters for excluded property

Excluded property includes property a spouse acquired before the relationship began, inheritances, gifts from third parties, and property derived from these. It is generally not part of family property. The court may divide excluded property only if family property or debt located outside BC cannot practically be divided, or if not dividing it would be significantly unfair. The start date is therefore usually the line between what you brought in and what was built during the relationship.

Even so, family property includes the amount by which the value of excluded property has increased since the later of the date the relationship began and the date the excluded property was acquired. So the increase in value of a house you owned before moving in together is shared, but the house's starting value is not. A spouse who claims property is excluded must prove it.

• A different start date can change which assets count as pre-relationship property.
• It changes the starting value from which any increase is measured.
• It can affect whether you reach the two-year mark at all.

If you disagree about the date

When partners give different dates, the Act does not list a fixed set of proof factors, so courts assess the evidence case by case. Because a spouse claiming excluded property must prove it, keeping records of when you acquired assets and when you moved in together is valuable.

• Leases, utility bills or mortgage documents showing a shared address
• Change-of-address records and mail
• Bank statements showing shared spending
• Messages, photos or travel records that show the couple's life together
• Purchase and title records for property you owned beforehand

Separation dates can also be disputed. Spouses may be separated while still living in the same home, and the court may treat one spouse communicating an intention to separate permanently, or acting on it, as evidence of separation. Spouses are not treated as separated if, within one year, they resume living together primarily to reconcile and live together for periods totalling at least 90 days.

What to do next

An application for property division must generally be made within 2 years, and for unmarried spouses that period runs from the date of separation. The period is suspended while spouses are in family dispute resolution or a prescribed process. Courts may extend time in some cases, so do not rely on that.

• Write down your own timeline of when you began living together and when you separated.
• Gather documents that support both dates and the origin of your major assets.
• Note any agreement between you, since couples can opt out of the property rules by agreement.
• Speak with a lawyer early if the dates are disputed or a limitation date is approaching.

Frequently asked questions