Ontario does not divide assets. It equalises the increase in each spouse's net worth across the marriage, and one spouse writes the other a cheque for half the difference.
Family Law Act, Part I. Verified against e-Laws on 28 August 2026.
For each spouse: everything owned on the valuation date — normally the date of separation — minus debts on that date, minus the net value of what that spouse brought into the marriage, minus excluded property such as a gift or inheritance received during the marriage and kept separate.
The spouse with the higher figure pays the other half the difference. That is the whole mechanism, and it is why a spouse can end up paying even though the asset itself never changes hands.
You do not deduct the value of the matrimonial home on the date of marriage, even if one spouse owned it outright beforehand. Bring a mortgage-free house into a marriage, separate ten years later, and its entire value sits in your net family property while the other spouse deducts everything they brought in.
This single rule reverses the outcome more often than any other, and it is the reason a marriage contract is worth having before the wedding rather than a lawyer afterwards.
One more asymmetry: a negative net family property counts as zero. Debt does not transfer to the other spouse.
Each spouse works out their net family property: assets minus debts on the valuation date, less the net value they brought into the marriage, less excluded property. The spouse with the higher net family property pays the other one half of the difference.
Yes, and it is the most consequential rule in Part I of the Family Law Act. Its value on the date of marriage is not deducted, even where one spouse owned it outright before the marriage. The full value sits in that spouse's net family property.
It is treated as zero. Debts do not transfer to the other spouse through equalization.
No. The equalization regime applies to married spouses. Common-law partners have to rely on trust claims and unjust enrichment, which are harder to run and much less predictable.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm your exact Land Transfer Tax and closing costs in writing.