Is a House Owned Before Marriage Divided in Ontario?

You bought your home before you married. Maybe you paid the mortgage for years on your own, and your spouse moved in later. Now the relationship is ending and you want to know whether the house is yours alone or something you have to split.

The answer in Ontario is often surprising. The rules treat a home that became the family home differently from your other property. This article explains how that works, what the date-of-marriage deduction does, and when the answer can be different.

The short answer for a married couple

When married spouses separate in Ontario, they divide property through an equalization payment of net family property. In plain words, the law looks at what each spouse built up during the marriage and balances the difference, rather than simply asking whose name is on the title.

The family (matrimonial) home is a special case. Its full value must be shared even if one spouse owned it before the marriage or received it as a gift or inheritance, unless the spouses agree otherwise. So a house you bought years before the wedding does not stay outside the calculation just because you owned it first.

How the date-of-marriage deduction works

For net family property, you subtract what you owned, less debts, on the date of marriage. This is the idea behind the credit people often have in mind: property you brought into the marriage is generally not treated as something you built up during it.

For the matrimonial home, though, the rule goes further. Because the full value of the home must be shared even if you owned it before the marriage, you should not assume the value you had at the date of marriage will protect the house in the same way it protects other assets. How the numbers actually work out in your situation depends on the facts, including debts, other property and any agreements, so it is worth having a lawyer or accountant run the calculation.

The same date-of-marriage subtraction applies to your other property, such as savings, and it is measured as what you owned less your debts on that date. Whether a particular property counts as the family home depends on the facts of your situation, so it is worth confirming with a lawyer.

When the result can be different

• Marriage contract: spouses can set their own property terms in a marriage contract, which can exclude property, including the family home. Both people must sign it in front of a witness.
• Agreement between the spouses: the full-value sharing rule applies unless the spouses agree otherwise.
• Common-law partners: they are not required to divide property acquired during the relationship under Ontario's equalization rules. A partner who contributed to the other's property may need to go to court to recover that contribution, and a cohabitation agreement can set property terms.

The common-law point is important. If you were never married, the equalization approach described above does not automatically apply to you. That does not mean the other partner has no claim, only that the route is different.

A quick comparison

What to do next

Time limits apply. A married spouse must apply to court within six years after separation or two years after divorce, whichever comes first. Do not wait until the end of that period to get advice.

• Write down the date you bought the home and the date you married.
• Find any marriage contract or cohabitation agreement and check who signed it and how.
• Gather mortgage statements, the title record and records of what you owned and owed on the date of marriage.
• List other property and debts each of you has, since they all feed into the calculation.
• Note the date you separated, and speak to a family lawyer before you sign anything about the home.

Frequently asked questions