Spousal Support After a Short Marriage in Ontario

If your marriage lasted only a few years, you may wonder whether spousal support is realistic, either as someone hoping to receive it or someone worried about paying it. The honest answer is that it depends, and short marriages tend to produce smaller and shorter awards.

This article walks through how entitlement works, what the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG) generally suggest for short marriages, and the exceptions that can change the result.

Entitlement comes before any formula

In Ontario, you may be eligible for spousal support if you were married, if you lived together as a couple for at least three years, or if you were in a relationship of some permanence and had a child together.

Being eligible to ask is not the same as being entitled. Entitlement has three possible bases: compensatory (loss or disadvantage from roles in the relationship), non-compensatory (need), and contractual. A contractual basis can come from a formal domestic contract or from an implied or informal agreement.

An income gap on its own does not create entitlement. It must be proven or agreed before the SSAG formulas apply.

What the guidelines suggest for short marriages

The SSAG are not law, but judges often base their spousal support decisions on them. For a couple without child support in the picture, the amount is 1.5% to 2% of the difference between the spouses' gross incomes for each year of cohabitation, capped at 50%, and the top of the range cannot exceed the amount that would equalize net incomes.

Duration is 0.5 to 1 year for each year of cohabitation. Because both amount and duration are tied to the length of the relationship, a short marriage naturally produces a small and brief result. The guidelines say that short marriages produce very limited awards, if there is entitlement at all.

The rule of 65, which can make support indefinite, does not apply to marriages under 5 years. The formulas also do not apply mechanically at the extremes. Above a payor income of $350,000, discretion is used, and incomes below $20,000 or $30,000 require adjustments.

Exceptions that can change the result

• Compensatory claims: the SSAG recognize a compensatory exception for short and short-to-medium marriages without children. These claims are assessed individually and can fall outside the formula range.
• Immigration sponsorship: when a short marriage breaks down while a sponsorship agreement is in place, the agreement may be an independent factor. It can lead to an amount or duration outside the formula ranges.
• Other recognized grounds: these include illness and disability, debt payments, basic needs or hardship, and a child's special needs.

If there are children, a different formula applies, and child support is given priority when a court decides both. A short marriage with children is not treated the same way as a short marriage without them.

What courts weigh

Under the Divorce Act, a court must consider each spouse's condition, means, needs and other circumstances. These include how long the spouses cohabited, the roles each played, and any existing order, agreement or arrangement about support. Ontario's guidance adds factors such as the income gap, who cared for any children, each person's age, health, and ability to support themselves.

A support order should recognize economic advantages or disadvantages from the marriage or its breakdown, share the financial consequences of caring for children, relieve economic hardship from the breakdown, and, so far as practicable, promote each spouse's economic self-sufficiency within a reasonable period.

The court may not consider either spouse's misconduct, such as an affair or who left, when it makes a final or interim spousal support order under the Divorce Act.

What to do next

Short-marriage claims turn on specifics, so the facts you can document matter. A one-time payment may also be an option in some cases. Lump-sum support is not limited to very unusual cases, and it is most common in short and medium marriages without children, as long as the payor has assets or resources to pay. A lump sum converted from periodic support should be discounted for tax, since it is neither taxable to the recipient nor deductible by the payor.

• Write out the dates you started living together, married and separated.
• Collect income records for both spouses.
• Document career or education choices made because of the relationship.
• Gather any sponsorship, cohabitation or other written agreements.
• Speak with a family lawyer before signing a separation agreement.

Frequently asked questions