BC de facto couples turning married automatically after 2 years question.

[gymnast79]

My girlfriend is Canadian, we met in Australia at school. I got Canadian PR as defacto partner in 2011 but we kept on living in Australia. We are planning to finally move to Canada and settling down in Vancouver. We have been living together in Australia for almost 7 years. I read last year that BC had implemented a policy where all de facto couples would be automatically switched to married status after 2 years of living together.

3 questions:
-Does this policy still exist?
-Would she and I be automatically be considered married as soon as we move into Vanc and live together? or after we live 2 years together in BC?
-Is this policy also for all states in Canada or only BC?

Cheers guys.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

My girlfriend is Canadian, we met in Australia at school. I got Canadian PR as defacto partner in 2011 but we kept on living in Australia. We are planning to finally move to Canada and settling down in Vancouver. We have been living together in Australia for almost 7 years. I read last year that BC had implemented a policy where all de facto couples would be automatically switched to married status after 2 years of living together.

3 questions:
-Does this policy still exist?
-Would she and I be automatically be considered married as soon as we move into Vanc and live together? or after we live 2 years together in BC?
-Is this policy also for all states in Canada or only BC?

Cheers guys.

By de facto, I'm assuming you mean common-law.

You wouldn't really be considered married; you would be considered the same as a married couple under the law if the relationship were to end. This is in regards to property division, asset division, debts, spousal support etc. As soon as you guys move to Van, this would apply to you.

Each province sets it's own rules about this. Some are similar to the BC rules, some are totally opposite.

 

[gymnast79]

Thank you for your insight.

I have a big student loan I have to repay and she is debt free. Basically she wouldn't want to have to share half of that debt which I think is fair and reasonable.

I read somewhere this:
"Some family lawyers have advised common-law couples to enter into legally binding co-habitation agreements to save additional grief during a potential future breakup."

Is this like a prenup? Anybody knows if this is a real possibility and if by doing this we could continue to live together in BC in a de facto relationship but without rights, duties and responsibilities to each other?

thanks again!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Is this like a prenup? Anybody knows if this is a real possibility and if by doing this we could continue to live together in BC in a de facto relationship but without rights, duties and responsibilities to each other?

Yes, you can basically do that by signing a co-habitation agreement.