Common-Law Separation in Ontario: Your Rights

You lived together for years. Maybe you bought a place, raised a kid, merged your finances without ever signing a thing. Then it ended, and now you are staring down a question nobody warned you about: what are you actually entitled to when a common-law relationship breaks up in Ontario?

The short answer surprises most people. Common-law partners and married spouses are treated very differently under Ontario law, and the gap shows up exactly where it hurts most, in who keeps the property. Here is what the law actually says, with the myths stripped out.

Do common-law partners split property in Ontario?

No, not automatically. This is the biggest mistake people make, and it is an expensive one to get wrong.

When married spouses separate, Ontario's Family Law Act gives each of them a right to equalization of net family property. In plain terms, the spouse who grew the larger net worth during the marriage pays the other half the difference. It is close to automatic. Married spouses also get special rights in the matrimonial home.

Equalization does not apply to common-law couples. The Family Law Act equalization scheme is for married spouses only. If you and your partner were never married, neither of you has a statutory claim to half of what the other accumulated, no matter how many years you were together. Whatever is in your name is presumptively yours. Whatever is in their name is presumptively theirs.

That does not mean a common-law partner walks away with nothing. It means the claim runs through a different door: the law of unjust enrichment and constructive trust, settled by the Supreme Court of Canada in Kerr v Baranow. If you contributed to property your partner holds, by paying down their mortgage, funding renovations, or working in their business for little or no pay, you can argue they were enriched, you were correspondingly deprived, and there was no legal reason for them to keep the benefit. Where the contributions were part of a genuine joint family venture, a court can order a share of the accumulated wealth or money to reflect what you put in.

The catch is that you have to prove it. Equalization is a formula. An unjust enrichment claim is a fight over evidence, contributions, and intentions. That is why the property side of a common-law separation is usually the hardest part to resolve. The guide on equalization explains the married-spouse formula common-law partners do not get.

Can I get spousal support from a common-law partner?

Yes, in many cases. Spousal support is where common-law and married partners are treated much more alike, and it catches people off guard in the other direction.

Under the Family Law Act, you count as a "spouse" for support purposes if you and your partner either lived together continuously for at least three years, or were in a relationship of some permanence and had a child together. Meet either test and you can claim spousal support, even though you were never married and even though you have no equalization right.

So the three-year cohabiting couple with no children, and the couple who had a baby together after eighteen months, both qualify for support. Whether support is actually owed, and how much, turns on the usual factors: each person's income, the length of the relationship, the roles you played, and whether one of you gave up career ground for the relationship or the kids.

If you want a rough sense of the numbers before you talk to anyone, the spousal support calculator gives you a ballpark range. For a deeper breakdown of how support is decided, see the guide on spousal support.

How long do you have to live together to be common-law in Ontario?

It depends on what you are asking for, which is why the "three years" rule confuses people.

The three-year mark comes from the spousal support definition in the Family Law Act. Live together continuously for three years and you are a spouse for support, full stop. Have a child together in a relationship of some permanence and the three-year clock does not apply at all.

For property claims through unjust enrichment, there is no magic number of years. A two-year relationship with heavy financial entanglement can support a stronger claim than a six-year relationship where you kept everything separate. The question is what you contributed and what your partner kept, not how long the calendar ran.

And there is no formal status to register and no "common-law divorce" to file. You do not divorce out of a relationship you were never married into. You separate, you sort out support, property, and parenting, and you move on. The separation date still matters for limitation periods and for valuing claims, so do not treat it as a throwaway.

Who keeps the house in a common-law breakup?

Whoever is on title, until someone proves otherwise.

For married spouses, the matrimonial home gets special protection regardless of whose name is on it. That protection does not extend to common-law couples. If the house is in your partner's name alone, it is legally theirs, and you have no automatic right to stay or to a share of its value.

Your route in is the same constructive trust analysis from Kerr v Baranow. If you helped buy the home, paid the mortgage, or poured money and labour into improving it, you can claim a beneficial interest even without your name on title. Courts have given common-law partners a share of a home held entirely in the other partner's name where the contributions justified it. The size of the share tracks what you actually put in.

If you are both on title as joint tenants, the home is shared and either of you can ask to sell it and divide the proceeds. The trouble starts when one name is missing from the deed, which is exactly when documenting your contributions becomes the whole ballgame.

What about the kids? Child support and parenting

Here the marital status question disappears entirely.

Child support does not care whether the parents were married, common-law, or never lived together. It is set by the Federal Child Support Guidelines based on the paying parent's income and the number of children, plus a share of special expenses like daycare, orthodontics, and activities. A married father and a common-law father on the same income owe the same support. You can run your own figure through the child support calculator.

Parenting and decision-making run on the same track too. The Children's Law Reform Act governs parenting time and decision-making responsibility for all Ontario parents, and the test is the best interests of the child. Whether you signed a marriage certificate has no bearing on it.

How Ryan helps

Common-law separation is messier than married divorce precisely because so little is automatic. There is no equalization formula to fall back on, so the property fight comes down to what you can prove about contributions, intentions, and what you built together. Get the support test right, document the property claim properly, and the parenting plan dialled in, and you avoid the years-long disputes that catch unprepared couples.

Ryan Manilla, Barrister & Solicitor, works family law across Toronto and the GTA on a flat fee, so you know the cost before you commit instead of watching an hourly clock run. The first consultation is free. You can walk through where you stand on property, support, and the kids, and leave with a straight answer about your options.

If your common-law relationship has ended and you want to know what you are actually entitled to, book a free consultation. It is worth understanding your rights before you agree to anything.