Map
Do not generalize from one province.
The unmarried property trigger is the fault line. Every cell opens the provincial pack.
Ontario
Equalization of net family property in Part I is a married-spouse machine. Unmarried partners do not get that statutory equalization. A cohabitation agreement is how they allocate property by contract. Some support rights can arise after three years of cohabitation or a child of the relationship.
civil_code_no_family_patrimonyQuebec
De facto spouses do not enter family patrimony by cohabiting. Property follows title, ordinary contract, and unjust-enrichment ideas a lawyer may assess—not the married spouses’ family patrimony.
spouse_like_after_triggerBritish Columbia
s. 3 treats as spouses persons who are married or who have lived in a marriage-like relationship for a continuous period of at least two years, or who have lived in a marriage-like relationship and have a child together. Unmarried spouses can have Part 5 property claims. That is not Ontario and not Québec.
spouse_like_after_triggerAlberta
Adult interdependent partners (often three years of cohabitation, a child plus a relationship of interdependence, or a registered agreement) can fall inside family-property legislation. That is closer to BC than to Ontario equalization-for-married-only.
spouse_like_after_triggerManitoba
Manitoba’s Family Property Act can include common-law partners after a three-year cohabitation (or a registered common-law relationship, or a child plus a relationship of some permanence, as the Act defines). That is not Ontario’s married-only equalization.
spouse_like_after_triggerSaskatchewan
The Act’s spouse definition commonly reaches persons who have cohabited continuously for at least two years. Unmarried partners can have statutory family-property claims. That is not Ontario and not Québec.
no_automatic_propertyNova Scotia
The Matrimonial Property Act is built around married spouses. Walsh v. Bona held that excluding unmarried couples from that statute was constitutional. Unmarried Nova Scotians do not get MPA division by cohabiting. Registered domestic-partnership opt-in, if used, is a separate statutory path a lawyer must check.
no_automatic_propertyNew Brunswick
Marital-property division is built for married spouses. Common-law partners in New Brunswick should not be analyzed as if they were BC unmarried spouses or Ontario Part I spouses.
no_automatic_propertyNewfoundland and Labrador
Matrimonial-property Part IV is built around spouses in the married sense used by the Act. Unmarried partners may use a cohabitation agreement; they should not be assumed to have BC-style statutory family property after two years.
no_automatic_propertyPrince Edward Island
Equalization-style family-property rules in the PEI Family Law Act track married spouses. Unmarried partners use cohabitation agreements rather than assuming BC unmarried-spouse property.
spouse_like_after_triggerYukon
Yukon’s Family Property and Support Act uses a spouse definition that can include persons who have cohabited in a relationship of some permanence (commonly twelve months, or a child). Check the current definition in the cited Act rather than importing Ontario or BC numbers from memory.
spouse_like_after_triggerNorthwest Territories
The NWT Family Law Act commonly treats persons who have cohabited for at least two years, or who have a child together, as spouses for family-property purposes. Confirm the current definition in the cited Act.
spouse_like_after_triggerNunavut
Nunavut’s Family Law Act, inherited from the NWT statute and maintained as Nunavut law, commonly includes unmarried partners after two years of cohabitation or a child. Confirm the current definition in the Nunavut text.