Common Law Relationships in Ontario

When media personalities lament the decline of marriage, they are not counting the couples who are married in all but name. According to the Simple Divorce news website, 15.7 percent of the residents of Ontario were in common law relationships in 2025. A common law relationship is one where two domestic partners live together but are not legally married. Common law relationships are the most common among young adults between the ages of 20 and 25, as well as among people over 50 whose previous marriages ended in divorce or in the death of a spouse. The relationship between common law domestic partners is similar to the relationship between spouses, but there are important legal differences. To make matters more complicated, the laws about common law relationships vary from one province to another, and regardless of the province, one set of rules applies for tax purposes and another in matters of family law. If you have questions about your legal rights in an ongoing common law relationship or about which property belongs to you after a breakup with your domestic partner, contact a Mississauga family lawyer.

Joint Family Ventures and Mullin v. Sherlock

According to Ontario law, unmarried domestic partners, that is, common law partners, do not automatically own their property jointly the way that legally married couples do. Meanwhile, things are not as simple as that, if you leave a common law domestic partnership, you go away empty-handed, no matter how much you contributed to your ex-partner’s financial wellbeing during the years that you were together. If you and your partner lived together for at least three years, then you count as a married couple for tax purposes. If you break up after at least three years of living together, there is no division of marital property like there is when a married couple divorces. You are, however, entitled to alimony-like support from your partner, for an appropriate duration and in an appropriate amount, if your income was a lot lower than your partner’s.

When a common law relationship breaks up, each partner keeps the property titled in his or her own name, even if the partners helped pay for each other’s property. If you want a different outcome, there are two ways to get one. The first is to sign a cohabitation agreement, which outlines each partner’s property rights in the event of a breakup. The other is to prove to the family court that you and your partner operated as a joint family venture (JFV), which means that your finances were as entwined as those of a legally married couple. In 2025, the Ontario Supreme Court ruled on the Mullin v. Sherlock case, determining that a woman who helped her ex-partner with his business projects, without being paid, throughout their twelve-year relationship, was entitled to a division of property under the joint family venture rule.

Contact Zagazeta Garcia LLP About Property Division in Common Law Relationships

A family lawyer can help you understand your property rights in a common law partnership.  Contact Zagazeta Garcia LLP in Mississauga, Ontario to discuss your case.

Source:

bestlawyers.com/article/ontario-common-law-relationships-rights-responsibilities/7146