Spousal Support Mess

[PandaMuse]

A very dear friend of mine is going through a spousal support nightmare: The couple were together in a common law relationship for 11 years. The last 4 years they were sleeping in separate rooms. The male paid for everything including clothing, food, shelter, schooling and a vehicle for the female during this time. The house that was purchased during the relationship was solely in his name and she made no payments to the mortgage nor toward any renovation made to the home. She left the home and several months later she started legal action looking for half of all assets, irreversible life insurance beneficiary and a substantial amount for spousal support to be paid for the next 10 years. After nearly a year of lawyers she is willing to settle out of court but due to her nature I am afraid she is going to take the money and still pursue the lawsuit. Is there any legal document that can be used to ensure that he will be protected from further legal action?????????

 

[pemachine]

my suggestion is this...

the two parties involed should go to a certified mediator, and hash out the agreement, weighing all the options. If they can reach an agreement, then they both sign it and so does the mediator as a witness, and then it becomes a document that is enforcable in a court... but not having done this myself, but only read about it, I can't say for certain that this is a guarantee.

Here's a bit about mediation in Ontario.

hope it helps