we have lived together commonlaw for 11years and she buys the grocerys and i pay the bills ,i own the house and we have no joint accounts,its been a bad relationship all along and we want to split up ,but she says she wants half the value of the house to leave peacefully,iwant to be fair but thats to much and i don't want to sell my house,can someone give me some advise...thanks.
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I believe occupational rent only applies to the matrimonial home if they were actually married or had purchased the house jointly- someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Unless she's put a tonne of money into the house via mortgage payments or renovations, she's not entitled to much - if anything.
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Originally posted by claybuster View Postwe have lived together commonlaw for 11years and she buys the grocerys and i pay the bills ,i own the house and we have no joint accounts,its been a bad relationship all along and we want to split up ,but she says she wants half the value of the house to leave peacefully,iwant to be fair but thats to much and i don't want to sell my house,can someone give me some advise...thanks.
Your common law spouse would have to demonstrate that she actually contributed to that expense. It is a very long shot and very expensive to litigate something like this for her. If there are no children involved then it is even harder.
But, do remember that you could face paying spousal support for your common law spouse too.
Good Luck!
Tayken
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She's not entitled to any share of your house (in Ontario) due to you being in a common law relationship.
She may be able to make a claim for a contructive or resulting trust.
Trusts are extremely complicated and no one here would really be able to give you firm advice, probably most lawyers wouldn't even want to touch them. The short and simple version is, if either:- She invested money, materials or labour into the home (beyond basic housekeeping), or,
- You promised her all along that she would get half the home.
The idea of occupational rent in this scenario is that if she had made some kind of contribution to the home, you would counter that by stating that she had lived rent-free and that her ordinary housing costs over that period of time would have been $xx,xxx.xx.
Trusts arguments are not simple or easy and if she was to try to make a claim you would do well to have collections of receipts and statements showing your personal costs for the home over the years, what bank account they came out of and be able to show that she made no direct contributions.
What you should know about family law in Ontario - Ministry of the Attorney General
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OK, do not EVER take legal advice from your ex or your ex's lawyer. Her lawyer may not even be a family law specialist. He may not even exist and she is making shit up.
There is no legal basis whatsoever for her to claim half and no lawyer would say this. The exception is if she told her lawyer a lot of bullshit, he will have to give advice based on bullshit.
I would highly recommend you don't talk to her. Communicate by email and be careful what you write. Keep her emails so if she gets unreasonable you can show that she has not made an effort in good faith to negotiate.
This makes a difference. If she tries to take you to court, first she has to try to settle with you out of court first and be able to show it. She has to make a reasonable offer that is within the law or if she loses in court she can be charged for some or all of your legal costs.
At this point in time you do not owe her any money. You politely and professionally write HER LAWYER and state that you are not aware of anything in law that obligates you to offer her any kind of settlement. State that if in his opinion there is an obligation that he should give reasons and an amount that is in accordance with those reasons.
This is not playing hardball, it is just asking for reasons and a justification of the amount in a professional way.
If it were me I would not offer her anything like $30k, and certainly I would not offer it at this point because that will encourage her to ask for 3X that much.
Let her pay a lawyer to give you reasons and justification. Then you can get independent legal advice and make a reasoned response. You can get a consultation for free through the Law Society. You probably don't need representation yet.
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And just to add, if after a bit you think to yourself that you would just like to settle and pay her $30k and it seems ok to you, there is nothing wrong with that.
But if you tell her that tomorrow, she will think she has an entitlement to the house and will be pushing you for half.
So let her give you factual reasons based in law for a calculation, then you say you need to think it over and then you reply that you do not believe you owe her any money but that you are willing to settle by paying her $30k out of good will and to avoid further legal costs on both sides.
This settlement would require her to sign a release against and all future claims against you or your estate.
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