Common-law Relationships in Manitoba - Rights and Benefits

Rights and Benefits

According to Manitoba Justice, "Common-law partners who have registered their common-law relationship with the Vital Statistics Agency, or lived together for at least one year and have a child together, or lived together for at least three years if there are no children of the relationship have all the same rights under the Family Maintenance Act as legally married spouses, including the right to seek spousal support." Federal Criminal Code law against polygamy prohibits family court recognition of any form of marriage being a "subsequent and simultaneous" conjugal union, whilst either common law partner remains married to a legal spouse.

While they are eligibly living together, each partner has significant rights and responsibilities in such areas as child custody, financial support and access to financial information about the partner, use of family assets, consent to sale or rental of the family home, and pension benefits under plans governed by Manitoba law (and in some cases, federal law).

According to the Vital Statistics Agency, "Once a relationship is registered, all the major property laws immediately apply to the couple in the same way they apply to married couples. Registration is voluntary, and couples are not required to register. However, even if a couple does not register, the property laws will apply to them after they have lived together, usually for three years. In some cases, though, it is less than three years; couples with concerns about property or other rights should seek legal advice."

Furthermore, "if a common-law couple separates, each partner is entitled to half the value of the property acquired by the couple during the time they lived together, just like married couples. It also means that if one of the partners dies, the surviving common-law partner has a claim to his or her estate." Cohabitation as a "couple" does not grant either party recognition of family property rights or conjugal union status, whilst one or both cohabitants remain married to other(s). {s.293 Criminal Code of Canada}