Yikes...

[Kennzer]

My wife and I are in a protracted reconciliation dance of sorts and things may work out...or not.

Anyway, one of the factors that has come up is the following: we met in 1987and I moved in with her in 1989 and was contributing to the mortgage by 1990. This was the first house we had together, a semi-detached in east end Toronto. We moved into our new detached home in 2003 upon its sale.

When she met w/her lawyer about what-ifs it came out that my wife could claim the value of the original house for those three years. If true this could make a major dent in my half of the current house should it be sold.

Is there anything I can look up on this and if true is there a guide that could be used to determine historic values in these cases?

K

[FL_Needs_To_Change]

Personally, my first step would be to do an internet search of housing markets in that area for the time frame from 1998 to 1990. Although not directly contributing to the mortgage per say, you probably paid for things leaving more of her income open to the maintenance of the home. You could also claim the "unjust enrichment" Claus for this time also.

Then I'd find a realtor that could tell you the approximate value of the home in 1997-1998 prior to your move in, then an average value from 1998-1990.
I do think she is correct in being able to claim a portion of the value of the first home for the years you were not in it and making some form of contribution directly or indirectly. However, if you have documentation on purported values, you could keep her claim to a minimum.

A preliminary search for me without details of area etc, returned, "....The record average price level for a detached bungalow was set in 1989 - $263,600"
And this site with housing statistics, studies and reports,
http://www.ontariotenants.ca/reports.phtml

[Ariana]

This is an excellent (Manitobea) web site and a 'must read' article about unjust enrichment:

http://www.fbfamilylaw.mb.ca/unjust.html

[FL_Needs_To_Change]

I agree, this is a great article!

[Kennzer]

I seem to recall that the house was bought for 180,000...It was a fixer-uper for sure.

Not sure if my wife misunderstood her lawyer or what but your comments are helpful. K

[GGG]

Ariana's post below may be helpful for you.