8,081
edits
Changes
→What is family debt?
Most importantly, family property also includes the increase in value of excluded property during the spouses’ relationship, beginning either at the date the spouses began to live together or the date of their marriage, whichever is first. Say, for example, that a house had equity of $100,000 when a relationship started, and equity of $150,000 when it ended. The spouse who owns the house would keep the $100,000 the house was worth at the beginning of the relationship as excluded property, and each of them would share the $50,000 in growth as family property.
===What about pets?===
The ''Family Law Act'' introduced special laws around pets, defined as ''companion animals'', in January 2024. Prior to this, pets were not treated differently by legislation.
A judge of either the Supreme Court or the Provincial Court can decide which party will own the pet in question. Interestingly, the court does not have discretion to order shared ownership of a pet. People can make their own family law agreements to accommodate shared ownership of a pet, but if the court is to make a decision, it must be for one or the other party to be the owner. Section 97 sets out the factors which determine who should be the owner of a family pet, and it is not just about who owned the pet before the relationship. See the section on [[Dividing Property and Debt in Family Law Matters]] under the Property and Debt chapter for more.
===What is family debt?===