N.S. Matrimonial Property Act needs a look

There are many reasons people don’t get married.

Whether it’s a desire to retain financial independence, not wanting children, issues with trust, keeping control over your life or just preferring not to get tied down, that old social pressure to tie the knot isn’t as powerful as it once was.

But when you do cohabit in what has come to be known as a common law relationship, ownership of assets can get complicated.

And as Canadians bend social norms to their will in all kinds of new ways, the law in this area has fallen behind.

That’s why the Nova Scotia’s Department of Justice is considering changes to the law around what happens when a common law relationship breaks up.

The current legislation, the Matrimonial Property Act, was drafted 40 years ago, when “living together” was a newish phenomenon.

These days, fewer people get married, and those who do get married do so later in life. People have fewer children; many more couples don’t have any children.

There are more single parents. Many more unmarried couples have children. Gender definitions and roles are changing; marriages and common law relationships are no longer solely between a man and a woman.

If you’re older when you begin a relationship, chances are you amassed some wealth or property of your own. Second or third relationships can blend families; each partner may also bring children to a new relationship.

So it’s not just, “Who gets the cat?” anymore. Instead, it’s, “How do we split up the furniture and do we have to sell the house? And who gets custody of the kids?”

It’s complicated, to say the least.

Many Nova Scotians assume the law is the same for married couples as it is for common law couples. It isn’t.

What’s more, most common law relationships aren’t covered under the province’s legislation, so the courts have had to wrestle with many of these issues.

Several provinces have updated their legislation, the federal government is updating the Divorce Act, and two years ago, Nova Scotia’s Law Reform Commission delivered a 200-page report recommending an overhaul.

The new act would be called the Family Property Act. The Law Reform Commission recommended that the new law should apply only to common law relationships of at least two years.

The Justice Department is proposing changes that would address business assets brought into a relationship, debt incurred during a relationship and how pension income is divided.

They are also suggesting the new law could treat common law relationships the same as married couples.

It’s unclear when or even if a bill would be introduced, though it is clear that a revamp of the law is long overdue.

The Department of Justice would not commit on Friday to doing that.

They should. Otherwise, going through the exercise of seeking public input seems pointless.