{"id":57294,"date":"2024-05-06T16:42:21","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T20:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/?post_type=publications-page&#038;p=57294"},"modified":"2025-12-10T15:47:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T20:47:29","slug":"how-to-divide-property-if-you-separate-2","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-to-divide-property-if-you-separate-2","title":{"rendered":"How to divide property if you separate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When a married couple separates, each spouse usually keeps the property they own. But, they share any <strong>increase<\/strong> in the value of that property that happened during their marriage.<\/p>\n<p>This means that the spouse who has more property usually pays money to the spouse who has less property. This is called an <strong>equalization payment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In most cases, the time limit to make a claim for an equalization payment is whichever comes first:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>6 years after you separate, or<\/li>\n<li>2 years after you get a divorce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Equalization payment<\/h2>\n<p>To calculate your equalization payment, you and your spouse must first figure out your own <strong>net family property<\/strong> (NFP). Here&#8217;s how:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 1<\/strong>: List and value all your assets and debts on the <strong>date your relationship ended<\/strong>. This is the day you separated, or your spouse died. Then, subtract your debts from your assets. Let&#8217;s call this amount, Amount A.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 2<\/strong>: List and value all your assets and debts on the <strong>date you were married<\/strong>. Then, subtract your debts from your assets. Let&#8217;s call this amount, Amount B.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3<\/strong>: Subtract Amount B from Amount A. This is your NFP. If your or your spouse&#8217;s NFP is a negative amount, it&#8217;s counted as zero.<\/p>\n<p>The spouse with the higher NFP pays the other spouse an equalization payment. What they pay is half of the difference between the NFP amounts.<\/p>\n<p>For example, say your spouse&#8217;s NFP is $80,000 and your NFP is $50,000. The difference between them is $30,000. Your spouse must pay you an equalization payment of $15,000.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/stepstojustice.ca\/questions\/family-law\/were-married-how-do-we-divide-our-property-and-debts-if-we-separate-or-divorce\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stepstojustice.ca\/equalization-payment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In rare situations where dividing property equally would be unfair, you can agree to divide property unequally. Or, you can go to court and ask a judge to decide.<\/p>\n<h2>Special rules<\/h2>\n<p>Some assets or debts are treated differently when calculating your NFP. For example, some <strong>gifts and inheritances<\/strong> are not included in you NFP.<\/p>\n<p>And <strong>Canada Pension Plan credits<\/strong> earned while you were together are always added up and divided equally, if you were together for at least one year.<\/p>\n<p>There are also special rules about your <strong>matrimonial home<\/strong>. A matrimonial home is a home that you and your spouse lived in just before you separated.<\/p>\n<p>If one spouse owned the matrimonial home on the date of marriage and on the date your relationship ended, the home&#8217;s <strong>total value<\/strong> is shared in the equalization payment.<\/p>\n<p>This is unlike other assets where only the increase in value is shared. This can have a big effect on the amount of the equalization payment.<\/p>\n<p>Different rules apply to matrimonial homes on reserve land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-57294","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to divide property if you separate - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-to-divide-property-if-you-separate-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to divide property if you separate - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When a married couple separates, each spouse usually keeps the property they own. 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