Once you've separated, there a number of things you may want to do, change, or adjust to reflect the your new circumstances of your relationship with your spouse. In general, you need to protect your privacy and safeguard your financial interests.

Credit cards, loans, and lines of credit can often be capped by telling the bank to make the accounts ''deposit only''. This will mean that no more withdrawals can be made and the only transactions that can take place are deposits. You could also tell the bank to reduce the credit limit on any joint debts to the current balance on the those <span class="noglossary">accountaccounts</span>.

===Jointly -owned real estate===

Most spouses own real estate as “joint tenants”tenants. " The essential feature really important aspect of this type of joint ownership is that if one of you the joint owners dies, then the surviving party will owners continue to own the entire property. This is different from the other type of joint ownership, a "tenancy in common." When a joint owner who is a tenant in common dies, their share of the property goes to their estate to be distributed according to their Will.

The ''[[Family Law Act]]'' says that when you separateon the date of separation each spouse is entitled to their share of the family property and responsible for their share of the family debt, you and your spouse each have an interest in that the spouses take their the other’s share shares of the ownership family property as a tenant ''tenants in common''. Of course, but the Land Title office does not and Survey Authority doesn't know you have 've separated. How your title is legally registered will not automatically change as a result because of your separation.

There are reasons both for and against keeping the ownership of any jointly-owned property registered as joint tenants. If You should get advice from a family law lawyer if you do not want to risk the have jointly-owned property becoming entirely owned by your spouse . You should see a real estate lawyer for help in case of your death, then changing the way that you can change the type of ownership by transferring your interest to yourself. This change must be registered with own the Land Title Officereal estate.

===Spouses have certain rights under the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/8mhj Wills===, Estates and Succession Act]'' that change following separation. Among other things, they stop being "spouses" for the parts of the act that talk about how someone's property is distributed if they die without a will and any gifts that are made to a spouse in a will are cancelled.

If you separate and your spouse dies, you cannot rely on your spouse's will. Unless the Will says otherwise, any gift or appointment the deceased spouse made to you is revoked at the date of your separation. If you want to make a claim to property owned by your spouse's estate, or ask for child support or spousal support from your spouse's estate, then you must 'll have to sue your spouse's estate under the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/8q3k [Family Law Act]'' and the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/7vbw Divorce Act]''.

If you've separated but you still want your spouse to receive a gift or appointment through in your Will, you must update your Will and specify that the gift or appointment should proceed be made even after your separationthough you've separated. You should see a wills and estates lawyer for help in making or changing a Will. ===Powers of attorney and other authorizations===

You should see Unless a wills power of attorney was written to say otherwise, under the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/849l Power of Attorney Act]'' any power of attorney made by you and estates lawyer for help in making or changing a willyour spouse terminates on the date of your separation.However, if you want to be sure that your power of attorney has been terminated, you should:

===Powers #revoke the power of attorney in writing;#deliver a copy of the revocation to all financial institutions where you have an account; and,#deliver a copy of the revocation to your spouse and other authorizations===to anybody else you have appointed as your attorney.

Unless the power of attorney was written to say otherwise, the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/849l Power of Attorney Act]'' says that any power of attorney made by you and your spouse terminates when your marriage or marriage-like relationship ends. No matter what your relationship status is, if you want to be sure that your power of attorney has been terminated, you need to prepare a written revocation and deliver a copy to all financial institutions where you have an account, as well as a copy to your spouse and anybody else you have appointed as your attorney. (Always keep records of your revocation, and how and when you delivered the revocation. !) If you do still want your former spouse to be able to act as your attorney after you separate, then however, you should must prepare a new power of attorney to make sure that they have a valid power of attorney.

If You should speak with a wills and estates lawyer if you wish to revoke an existing power of attorney or other authorization or to create a new one, you should speak with a wills and estates lawyer to have the proper documents drawn up.