www.canadianlawyermag.com 41
[separation] process with the uncertainty of
not knowing exactly how things are going to
end up."
According to Statistics Canada, the
number of common-law couples across the
country increased by 447 percent between
1981 and 2021, accounting for nearly a
quarter of couples by 2021. In contrast,
the number of married couples grew only
26 percent over the same 40-year period.
Young people are especially likely to live
in common-law arrangements. Statistics
Canada found that in 2021, 79 percent of
people aged 20 to 24 who were in a couple
were living with a common-law partner. But
older people are increasingly living with
common-law partners, too. Among people
aged 55 to 69 who are in couples, 16 percent
were living in common-law arrangements in
2021, up from 13 percent in 2016.
"It's very difficult … to go through
the [separation] process with the
uncertainty of not knowing exactly how
things are going to end up"
Lorne Fine, Fine & Associates
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Despite these trends, Ontario is one
of several provinces that do not auto-
matically grant common-law partners
the same property-division rights as
married spouses.
