Advantage Family Law
Dividing Property & Money After Separation
Legal Guidance on Property and Money Division During Divorce in CalgarY
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Advantage Family Law helps clients who are separated or divorced. Specifically, we help to make sure property and money are divided fairly after your relationship breaks down. We act on your behalf to ensure you receive every asset to which you are legally entitled.
Our legal team is ready to act quickly for you. As a small and effective law firm, we can offer one-on-one, personalized advice with an experienced lawyer.
Wisdom and Knowledge for You
Advantage Family Law gives you separation advice based on 20+ years of legal experience. Our main lawyer, Christopher Bungay, has been helping clients from all walks of life since 2003. Born in rural Nova Scotia, the son of a fisherman, Chris knows that hard work is the key to making sure your needs are met. He started working at age 16 and never looked back.
Over the past two decades, Chris has acted as the main lawyer for hundreds of clients across Canada. He has fought for people’s rights in Courtrooms, tribunals, and mediations.
While Chris has experience arguing in Court, his main strength is knowing how to settle disputes between people. He knows how hard fighting can be on couples. His goal, and our firm’s goal, is to always try and settle your case with as little conflict as possible.
Wisdom and Knowledge for You
Chris is a member of the Family Law subsection of the Canadian Bar Association. He is also a member of the Law Society of Alberta. While much of his time is spent practicing law, Chris also a dedicated husband and father of young twins. He is also actively involved in the community, and volunteers as the president a national charity Sober Kids Canada.
From 2012 to 2019, Chris was the founder and managing partner of a large litigation firm in BC. During that time, he represented over two thousand clients in a range of contentious matters.
Advantage Family Law gives you separation advice based on 20+ years of legal experience. Our main lawyer, Christopher Bungay, has been helping clients from all walks of life since 2003. Born in rural Nova Scotia, the son of a fisherman, Chris knows that hard work is the key to making sure your needs are met. He started working at age 16 and never looked back.
Over the past two decades, Chris has acted as the main lawyer for hundreds of clients across Canada. He has fought for people’s rights in Courtrooms, tribunals, and mediations.
While Chris has experience arguing in Court, his main strength is knowing how to settle disputes between people. He knows how hard fighting can be on couples. His goal, and our firm’s goal, is to always try and settle your case with as little conflict as possible.
Chris is a member of the Family Law subsection of the Canadian Bar Association. He is also a member of the Law Society of Alberta. While much of his time is spent practicing law, Chris also a dedicated husband and father of young twins. He is also actively involved in the community, and volunteers as the president a national charity Sober Kids Canada.
From 2012 to 2019, Chris was the founder and managing partner of a large litigation firm in BC. During that time, he represented over two thousand clients in a range of contentious matters.
The First Step: Protecting Your Assets/Property
The first step in the process is making sure your right to property/money is protected. There is a general legal presumption that any property/money accumulated during a marriage will be split 50/50 between a couple after they separate. While sometimes things are not split evenly, the bottom line is that each spouse is entitled to a percentage of most property acquired during their relationship. There are important rules that are meant to ensure your property rights are respected after separation.
These rules include the following:
- Each spouse must provide full and accurate disclosure of any money/assets which they have. This allows you to have a correct view of the total assets of your ex - spouse (income, investments, etc.). This rule is meant, in part, to prevent one spouse from withholding information fro m another after separation. For example, your ex - partner cannot hide money in a separate bank account.
- A spouse must not intentionally diminish or sell any marital property in a way that waters down your right to that property. For example, after you s eparate, your ex - spouse is not allowed to transfer certain property (home, investments, etc.) to another person to prevent you from having access to the value of that property. Another example is your spouse would not be permitted to drain all the money fr om a line of credit in both of your names.
We serve notice on your ex-spouse to provide full and accurate information about his/her earnings and assets. If they do not comply, or withhold any important information, we can ask a judge to order they pay costs to you for this poor behavior.
Similarly, if your spouse tries to water down/sell any property behind your back, we can take steps to correct this. These steps include asking a judge to order your ex-partner to stop their behaviour and/or repaying you any money you are owed because of their actions. In these circumstances, a Court in Alberta can also order that you be given certain property so your spouse cannot sell it/give it away.
How Your Share of Property/Money is Calculated
When calculating how much a spouse is owed for property, the law starts out with an assumption that assets are split 50/50 after separation. For example, if a couple each made the same income, had no children and owned a house together, each spouse would be entitled to 50% of their home’s value after separation/divorce. However, the 50/50 rule does not always apply easily to many situations. Making this calculation gets more complicated in the following circumstances:
How Your Share of Property/Money is Calculated
When calculating how much a spouse is owed for property, the law starts out with an assumption that assets are split 50/50 after separation.
For example, if a couple each made the same income, had no children and owned a house together, each spouse would be entitled to 50% of their home’s value after separation/divorce. However, the 50/50 rule does not always apply easily to many situations. Making this calculation gets more complicated in the following circumstances:
The couple has children who are dependent at the time of separation
When there are children involved, the asset split may not be an even 50/50 between spouses. The first priority in the legal system is what is in the “best interests” of any children from the relationship. For example, if a couple divorces, the Court will take into account if the children need to reside in the family home with mom or dad.
One spouse stays home/takes care of family
In situations where one partner stays home to care for the kids, and the other partner earns income outside the home, dividing property can be more difficult. The contributions of the spouse who stays home are viewed as very important in family law. The working spouse may have a pension through work, or RRSPs in his/her own name. The law recognizes that the working spouse was able to get these assets largely due to the supportive wife/husband at home. As such, the stay-at-home spouse has a right to a portion of the assets in the other spouse’s name such as a work pension plan.
One spouse owns (or is partial owner) of a business
If one spouse owns (or partially owns) a business, the other spouse may be entitled to part of the value of that business after separation. A legal and business analysis will be needed to determine how much the business is worth, and how much the non-business-owning spouse is entitled to receive.
What if property is in my spouse’s name before we separate?
Just because property is in your spouse’s name does not mean that your spouse keeps full ownership once your marriage ends. For example, if a home is in a husband’s name, but the wife/husband lived together in the home, there is a high chance the wife will be entitled to 50% of the home’s value, regardless of whether it is in the husband’s name.
If my spouse treated me poorly, does this give me a right to more property?
In most cases, poor behavior such as adultery will not give one spouse any special rights to more property after the relationship ends.
Advantage Family Law Can Help
Our law firm can give you a correct opinion about what property/money you are entitled to get. We can also take legal action to make sure your ex-spouse respects your property rights. Let us help you receive the assets you deserve and move on with your life.