Moving In Together in Ontario: A Legal Checklist for Common-Law Couples

Moving in together is one of the biggest steps a couple takes — and one of the least legally protected, at least by default. Ontario gives married spouses an automatic framework for property, support, and the matrimonial home. Common-law couples get none of that automatically. Whatever isn't addressed in writing tends to default to ordinary property and contract rules, which is a very different (and generally weaker) starting position.

None of this means you need a lawyer standing over every box you pack. It means a short list of practical, legal-adjacent steps — tackled before or shortly after the move — can save both of you real difficulty later, whether the relationship lasts decades or ends sooner than planned.

Step 1: Understand What Ontario Law Does and Doesn't Give You

Before deciding what to put in writing, it helps to know the default legal landscape:

• No automatic property-sharing right. Common-law partners get no equivalent to the Family Law Act's equalization of net family property, no matter how long the relationship lasts.
• No automatic matrimonial home protection. The special possession and encumbrance rules for the matrimonial home apply only to married spouses.
• A possible spousal support claim. An unmarried partner can qualify as a "spouse" for support purposes under the Family Law Act, but only by independently meeting the Act's own cohabitation or relationship-and-child test.
• Different definitions everywhere else. The CRA's tax definition of common-law, an employer's group benefits plan definition, and the Family Law Act's support definition are all separate tests — meeting one doesn't mean you meet the others.

Step 2: Talk About a Cohabitation Agreement

A cohabitation agreement is the single most effective tool for filling the gap left by Ontario's default rules. It's a written contract — enforceable under the Family Law Act if it's in writing, signed by both partners, and witnessed — that can address:

• How property brought into the relationship, or acquired during it, will be treated if you separate
• How shared expenses and debt are divided while you're together
• What happens to the home you live in, especially if only one partner owns it or is on the lease
• Retirement assets and pension expectations, since common-law partners have no automatic pension-sharing right
• Pet ownership, if applicable
• A process for resolving disputes if you separate, rather than defaulting straight to court

You don't need to have this conversation as a test of the relationship's seriousness — frame it as the same kind of practical planning as a joint budget or a shared lease.

Step 3: Sort Out the Practical Financial Items

• [ ] Decide whether to open a joint account for shared expenses, and how contributions will be split
• [ ] Agree on how rent, mortgage, or property costs will be shared, and put it in writing even informally
• [ ] Review each partner's debt situation and discuss whether either partner will take on joint debt (like a joint lease or a car loan) in the other's name
• [ ] Decide how large purchases made together (furniture, a vehicle) will be treated if the relationship ends — jointly owned, or belonging to whoever paid
• [ ] Discuss whether one partner is moving into a home the other already owns, and what that means if the relationship ends

Step 4: Update Beneficiary Designations and Estate Documents

This step gets skipped constantly, and it's one of the more consequential ones:

• [ ] Check your life insurance beneficiary designation — a common-law partner has no automatic claim to proceeds unless specifically named
• [ ] Check workplace group benefits to see if and how you can add your partner, understanding that the employer's plan sets its own definition of "spouse" separate from tax or family law definitions
• [ ] Update or create a will — common-law partners are not automatically entitled to inherit the way a married spouse generally would be if there's no will
• [ ] Review any existing retirement account or pension beneficiary designations from before the relationship began

Step 5: Handle the Logistics That Are Easy to Forget

1. Update your address with the CRA, your employer, your bank, and any government accounts.
2. Check your CRA marital status. Living together in a conjugal relationship for the required period generally means you're required to file as common-law for tax purposes — this is a separate question from your family law status.
3. Review your lease or mortgage. If only one partner is on the lease or title, discuss what that means for both of you and whether it should change.
4. Talk about insurance beyond life insurance — tenant's or home insurance, and whether both partners need to be named.

A Quick Reference Table

Frequently asked questions