Common-Law Separation Rights in Canada, by Province

When a common-law couple separates in Canada, the province you live in decides whether your property gets split. In British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, it’s divided much like a married couple’s once you’ve lived together two or three years. In Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic provinces and Yukon, it isn’t: each of you keeps what’s in your own name.

Spousal support is different. Every province and territory except Quebec lets a common-law partner ask for it. And a few money rules are federal, so they’re the same wherever you live: when the CRA counts you as separated, what happens to your benefits, and whether CPP credits and RRSP savings can be shared.

Do common-law partners split property when they separate?

It depends on where you live. Six provinces and territories treat a long common-law relationship like a marriage for property: usually everything either of you acquired during the relationship is shared, and you split its value equally. The other seven have no property-sharing law for unmarried couples (Nova Scotia’s covers only registered couples), so ownership follows whose name is on it.

The table shows the rule in each province and territory. “Property” means the province’s family property law applies to you. “Support” is when a common-law partner can ask the other for spousal support.

The years are years of living together continuously, and the “with a child” routes usually require a relationship of some permanence as well. A few details change the answer:

• In British Columbia and Saskatchewan, a child doesn’t shorten the wait for property. In BC it gets you support after any length of relationship, but property sharing still takes two years.
• Manitoba and Nova Scotia let couples register their relationship with vital statistics. In Nova Scotia that registration is the only way an unmarried couple gets the property rights of a married one.
• Alberta’s rules apply to “adult interdependent partners”, which also covers couples who sign an adult interdependent partner agreement, however long they’ve lived together.

What if your province doesn’t split property?

In Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic provinces and Yukon, you each leave with what’s in your own name. A house in one partner’s name stays theirs, and so do the RRSP, the car and the savings account. Anything you own together, such as a home on both names or a joint account, belongs to both of you.

A partner who put money or unpaid work into the other’s property can still go to court. The usual claim is called unjust enrichment. In Kerr v. Baranow (opens in a new tab), the Supreme Court of Canada said that when a couple worked together as a “joint family venture”, the partner who ends up with less can get a share of the wealth they built together. It’s a real remedy, but you have to prove it, which usually means lawyers and time.

Quebec has one exception. Since June 30, 2025, unmarried couples who live together and have a child born or adopted on or after that date are automatically in a parental union. When it ends, the couple splits the value of the family home, the furniture and the family car equally. Savings, RRSPs and pension plans aren’t part of it, and it still doesn’t give a right to spousal support. Éducaloi (opens in a new tab) explains who it covers and how to opt out.

Who keeps the house?

In the six provinces and territories that split property, the family home’s value is usually shared, whoever’s name is on the title, and a court can let one partner stay in it for a while after you separate. In the others, the person on the title keeps it. Ontario’s rule that both spouses can stay in the family home applies only to married couples.

If you own the home together, neither of you can force the other out by changing the locks. You’ll either sell and split what’s left after the mortgage, or one of you buys the other out. A buyout usually means qualifying for a new mortgage on one income, so ask your lender early what you’d qualify for.

Are there deadlines to make a claim?

Yes, and some are short. Missing one can mean losing the claim entirely. They count from the day you separate unless the table says otherwise.

Ontario has no time limit on a support claim under its Family Law Act, and Yukon dropped its three-month limit for separations on or after March 1, 2022. Claims for unjust enrichment have their own limitation periods, which vary by province. If you think you have a claim, talk to a family lawyer or legal aid before the first anniversary of your separation, not after.

What changes with the CRA and your benefits?

For the CRA, you’re separated once you’ve lived apart for at least 90 days because the relationship broke down. At that point, your separation counts from the first day you lived apart, and you have until the end of the following month to tell the CRA. The CRA’s marital status rules (opens in a new tab) apply the same way in every province.

Once you report it, the CRA recalculates your Canada Child Benefit (opens in a new tab) and your Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit on your own income instead of your combined income, starting the month after your status changed. For a lower earner that often means bigger payments. If you share custody equally, each of you gets half of what you’d receive with the children full time. Report late, and the CRA will ask you to repay anything it overpaid. Our guide to how much the Canada Child Benefit pays shows what a single-income payment looks like. In Quebec, the Family Allowance is recalculated too, and our guide to a common-law separation with children in Quebec covers it, along with shared custody and child support.

Can you share CPP credits, RRSPs and TFSAs?

Yes, and these federal rules apply in every province, even where property isn’t divided. Each one lets you move savings between you without tax, as long as you follow the right steps.

The order matters with a TFSA. If one partner withdraws the money and the other deposits it, the deposit counts against the receiver’s room and can push them over their limit. In Quebec, pension credits come from the Quebec Pension Plan, so ask Retraite Québec about its rules instead.

These rules let you share savings. Whether you have to depends on your province’s law and on what you agree to.

Rebuilding savings in your own name

Separating usually means paying rent, groceries and bills on one income, often with no emergency fund in your own name. Rebuilding one is slow, and it’s easy to give up on when it grows $50 at a time.

Lodavo makes those small deposits feel like progress. It works with the savings account you already have at almost any Canadian bank or credit union, and every $25 in your account earns a free ticket in a weekly draw for prizes up to $10,000. Someone wins at least $100 every week. If you’re setting up accounts in your own name anyway, it’s a good time to start. Our guide to building an emergency fund covers how much to aim for.

Your next step

Write down the date you started living apart, get copies of anything in both names, and check the deadline in your province. Then build the savings you’ll be living on. Download Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab) and start earning tickets for the weekly draw.

This page is general information about the law in each province and territory, not legal advice. A family lawyer or your local legal aid office can tell you how it applies to you.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.