Legal Question in Family Law in Canada

Re: Payout before divorce filing.

This reply is applicable to British Columbia only. The law in other provinces varies, and therefore it is unlikely this answer is correct outside B.C. If you have a properly drafted separation agreement and if each of you has fully disclosed his or her assets, income and prospects to the other and if each of you has consulted a lawyer (a different lawyer, not the same one for both of you) and after doing so have signed the separation agreement, the it would be in order to pay out your wife's agreed share prior to a divorce. If you have not each consulted a lawyer and/or have not made full disclosure to each other and/or have not signed an agreement, then either of you can likely come back and reopen the question of asset division. You miust also discuss the issue of spousal support; if sone of you has forsaken a career in whole or in part then it is likely that person is entitled to spousal support. if one of you has "put the other through school" it is possible, and even likely, that the resultant education which will enable income to be earned, is an asset to be valued and divided. It is not only material assets that are divided, but also intangibles such as a trade or professional qualifications. In B.C. one of 4 events is needed to "freeze" arrangements in place; they are: 1. A divorce order; 2. A Court Order saying you have no reasonable prospect of reconciliation; 3. A Court Order declaring your marriage null and void from the beginning; 4. A signed Separation Agreement. In B.C. there is no such thing as "legal separation" unless by this term is meant the state that exists after a separation agreement has been signed. However B.C. law does not mention the concept of "legal separation" at all, and it is a term used for cnvenience only.