Today I want to talk about the consequences of being married versus being merely cohabiting. Once upon a time, there was a sharp distinction between the two statuses; being married afforded much more protection under the law. Today, although the distinction between the two is largely blurry, some differences still exist.
In Ontario today, whether you are married or not, if you have a child with your spouse, either by birth or through adoption, you have the obligation to support that child. If the child is yours, you have to pay. With today’s DNA technology, a man can no longer simply deny his parentage and get away with it.
What about spousal support? If you’ve been married for for a long time, you will probably get some kind of spousal support if the circumstances warrant it.
However, if you’re merely cohabiting, to qualify for spousal support, you’ll either have to be past the three year mark, or if you have a child with your spouse to be in a relationship of “some permanence.”
The law, however, mandates that the child support obligation takes priority over the spousal support obligation. Therefore, if the paying party cannot satisfy both obligations at the same time, the recipient will only receive the child support payments.
Finally, the biggest distinction in law between married spouses and cohabiting ones lies in entitlement to the property when it’s divided. The married spouse is statutorily entitled to half of the difference of the wealth accumulated throughout the marriage between the parties. This is called “equalization.” The cohabiting spouse, on the other hand, does not have a statutory right to equalization.
