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[CCC&CKF]

Hi everyone: we're CCC and CKF......looking for answers to some questions about common-law status, and we'll post them in the appropriate discussion threads.

[yearsgone]

Hi and welcome! You'll get good advice here and you might want to try the search feature where you might find some answers too.

[CCC&CKF]

Thanks yearsgone! Maybe we're in the wrong place, 'cause we want to stay together, not split apart!

We have a simple question, to which there seems to be no simple answer. We have been living CL since Oct 06. Both of us were separated for 4-5 years prior to Oct 06. Our divorces from our previous spouses were finalized in May and Oct 2008.

So the Q is: in the eyes of the law, have we been living in a common-law relationship for about 27 months, i.e. since Oct 06, or is it just three months, since the last divorce decree was granted in Oct 08? In other words, does the fact that the divorces were not finalized until a few months ago negate or nullify earlier periods of co-habitation?

The question is important, as in some jurisdictions and some laws and acts, the CL relationship gets "status" only after one year has elapsed.

We'd appreciate it if anyone can shed some light on this. BTW, we live in Ontario.

Many thanks!

[FL_Needs_To_Change]

The fact that you did not have a legal divorce does not negate your cohabitation period.
It is possible for individuals to not be legally divorced yet be in a CL union and recognized as such.
The only issue was that neither party was "free" to remarry until the first marriage was legally ended, (IE divorce).