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Common Law Spouse Challenges Quebec Civil Code

By Garry J. Wise, Wise Law Office, Toronto

In accordance with the Quebec Civil Code, common law spouses separating in Quebec have few entitlements in comparison to the same group in other Provinces.

At 35 percent, the Province of Quebec boasts the highest percentage of common law spouses in the Country, which is why the constitutional challenge of one Quebec resident may have a serious legal impact in the Province.

The Quebec resident, whose name cannot legally be released, separated from her wealthy common law spouse from whom she intends to seek a $50 million lump sum payment in addition to spousal support of $56,000.00 a month, in 2003.

The Globe and Mail reports:

?[A Montreal Woman is] fighting a constitutional challenge that would rewrite the rules on couples who shack up but forgo marriage - a trend that is especially widespread among Quebeckers, the Canadian champions of common-law unions.

"There are two classes in Quebec - married women with conventional benefits, and second-class common-law spouses who end up having to fend for themselves," says one of the woman's lawyers, Anne-France Goldwater.

?Ms. Goldwater is challenging the constitutionality of Quebec's Civil Code, as well as Canadian marriage laws, which she argues discriminate against live-in couples because they restrict the definition of marriage to a "lawful union" of two people.

"Common-law couples are being left out of the definition without regard for the quality of the relationship they've entered into," Ms. Goldwater said.

We will continue to follow this case and keep you updated as to any developments.

- Annie Noa Kenet Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCE

Full post as published by Wise Law Blog on March 03, 2008 (boomark / email).