occupational rent likelyhood

[dadonown]

So, STBX moved out of the house for over a year. What is the likelyhood that she will get/win occupational rent awarded? House was paid off, so only ongoing cost during the time in question was utilities, etc. paid by me.

[FB_]

So, STBX moved out of the house for over a year. What is the likelyhood that she will get/win occupational rent awarded? House was paid off, so only ongoing cost during the time in question was utilities, etc. paid by me.

Sounds like a possibility.

Why have you not bought her out?

[dadonown]

Tried, but she went back and forth, so sold the house. Now working on equalization and wondering about the awarding of ORent possibility to include in. She chose to move out.

[FB_]

Tried, but she went back and forth, so sold the house. Now working on equalization and wondering about the awarding of ORent possibility to include in. She chose to move out.

So the house is sold now?

I would say that it may be less likely if the house was sold and you tried to equalize. But i'm no lawyer.

Did she bring it up? Ask for it?

[dadonown]

She brought it up. She is asking for OR for the period that she moved out up till the house is sold. She wants it as part of the equalization amount.

[FB_]

Well you might want to find out what it costs to rent a similar house in your neighborhood. Then divide that in half and see how much you "might" owe her.

[dadonown]

That's already done. It a good chunk of change (value of a new small car)...definately worth fighting for.

[mom2three]

Go to canlii and enter "occupational rent" and "divorce".

She would have a hard time claiming it. Remember, anyone can make a claim; not every claim is valid.

Time to gather all the household bills together (property taxes, water, maintenance etc.)

[dadonown]

all those bills add up to about a third to a half of what the OR would be.

[mom2three]

all those bills add up to about a third to a half of what the OR would be.

Based on what? The amount she is claiming for occupational rent? You need to find an argument why it shouldn't be paid. Now go looking on canlii!

[arabian]

OR is routinely awarded and calculated. It stand to reason as one person has benefited from living rent-free while the other person has not. Process is about "equalizing" everything. However, I would not agree to full OR on utilities. Had you moved out some of the utilities would have remained on the house and those expenses should be shared.

[dadonown]

based on the amount she's asking, which is based on rental properties listed in MLS for the area and time.

lawyer says likelihood she would get it is high. I'm not sure if he's just saying that to cover his butt, since he recommended agreeing to an amount of equalization with ORent taken into account.

[billm]

Why fight it?

You were living in a house owned by both of you.

OR should be a reasonable amount though, less than market rate I think. The reason for this is that it was not by choice you were living there alone would not have rented such an expensive place if you had a choice. If she rented, perhaps use the value of her rent - this would be fair.

Also, the OR amount should possibly be reduced by her marginal tax rate. It may not be fair that you rent her portion of the house, but she does not pay tax on that as it was not income that was reported. Not sure about that one, especially considering that she probably was renting at the time and had to pay for that in post tax dollars.

Also, any money spent on property taxes, up keep, etc should be split too.