How to Protect Your Finances When You Separate in BC

When a relationship ends, money worries often arrive before anything else: a joint account that could be emptied, credit cards that keep running, or a sense that your spouse is moving assets out of sight. It is natural to want to act quickly.

This article explains the framework BC law uses for family property and debt, the tools a court has to protect your claim, and what to avoid doing yourself. It is general information only.

This article covers the law of British Columbia.

How BC law treats property and debt

Spouses are both entitled to family property and responsible for family debt. On separation, each spouse has a right to an undivided half interest in all family property as a tenant in common, subject to any agreement or order.

Not everything is divided. Excluded property includes property acquired before the relationship began, inheritances and gifts from a third party, and the spouse claiming property is excluded must demonstrate it. The increase in value of excluded property during the relationship can still be divided.

Family debt includes all financial obligations incurred by a spouse from the start of the relationship until separation. Debts incurred after separation count only if incurred to maintain family property. Family property is valued at fair market value, and its value and the family debt are determined as of the date of the agreement or the hearing.

Joint accounts, credit cards and day-to-day spending

Because family debt generally covers obligations incurred up to separation, and later debts count only in limited cases, it helps to know exactly where your accounts and cards stand on your separation date. Separation does not require a court filing, since there is no such thing as a legal separation.

How a bank treats a joint account or a shared credit card is a matter for the bank and your account agreement, so contact your bank to understand your options and how to change access or authority. A lawyer can advise on whether a particular step is wise for you.

• Keep paying ordinary household bills and any debts you are responsible for.
• Take screenshots or statements showing balances on your separation date.
• Avoid large, unusual withdrawals or transfers that you could not explain later.
• Keep your own spending reasonable and keep receipts for necessary costs.

Court tools if you fear property will disappear

The Supreme Court must make an order restraining a spouse from disposing of property at issue in a property or pension claim, unless that spouse establishes that a claim will not be defeated. Such orders can be made before the other spouse is served with notice.

The court can also make a temporary order giving one spouse exclusive occupation of a family residence for a specified period, including to the exclusion of the other spouse. That order does not transfer ownership or a proprietary interest.

A spouse may apply for property division orders at any time before a final agreement or final order is made on property division.

Property division is a matter for the Supreme Court. The Provincial Court does not deal with property division, except for companion animals.

What not to do

Self-help can backfire. Emptying a joint account, running up cards, or moving assets to someone else may look like an attempt to defeat a claim, and it can invite a restraining order.

A court may order an unequal division of family property or debt if equal division would be significantly unfair. Factors include relationship length, contributions to the other spouse's career, whether debt was incurred in the normal course, and changes in value after separation.

If you sign a written property agreement with each spouse's signature witnessed by at least one other person (the same person may witness both signatures), a court may set aside or replace all or part of it where a spouse failed to disclose significant property or debts, took improper advantage of the other's vulnerability, or did not understand the agreement's nature or consequences. The court may decline to do so if the result would not be substantially different from the agreement. Spouses can agree on a split different from the default equal division.

What to do next

• Record your separation date and the balances of every joint and personal account and card on that date.
• Collect statements, tax returns, property documents and loan records for both of you if you can access them lawfully.
• List what you believe is excluded property, and gather proof, since you must demonstrate it.
• Speak with a lawyer before signing anything that settles property or debt.
• Ask a lawyer about a restraining order if you have real concerns about assets being moved.
• Note the two-year deadline for property claims.

For married spouses the two-year period runs from the divorce judgment, and for unmarried spouses from the date of separation.

Frequently asked questions