Canadian Lawyer

Regional wrap-up GETTING THE FACTS OUT ON COMMON LAW UNIONS T he court fight between an unnamed Quebec billionaire businessman whose identity is an open secret and his former Brazilian common law wife over support payments frequently grabbed headlines before and after it went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Yet despite all the media coverage of the high court's ruling in what has become known as Erik v. Lola because of privacy laws governing family law cases, a substantial majority of Quebeckers in common law relationships still do not understand they do not have ™ A Noticeable Difference TORONTO I BARRIE I HAMILTON 1-866-685-3311 I www.mcleishorlando.com 10 ntitled-2 1 M ay 2013 www.CANADIAN L a w ye r m a g . c o m the same rights and obligations as legally married couples, says Quebec's Chambre des notaires. Alarmed by polling and social media monitoring it conducted immediately following the Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of Quebec Civil Code provisions, the chambre has taken action to counter what it calls a shocking lack of knowledge about how the law applies to couples not legally married in the province. The ignorance is of particular concern given an estimated 38 per cent of Quebec couples are in common law unions compared with 11 per cent in other provinces where support regimes following separation are often more favourable to a disadvantaged partner. In March, the chambre inaugurated its first stand-alone web site (www.commonlawunion.ca), available in English or French, to lay bare the statistics and educate people on how to protect their rights. Among recent poll revelations: 62 per cent of respondents still believe in the event of separation, all assets and property acquired during the course of their common law union will be divided equally; and 58 per cent are unaware the lower-income spouse is not entitled to alimony in the event of separation. "If you compare these results with those from a similar survey conducted in 2007, you see that cohabitation contracts are still uncommon," says chambre president Jean Lambert. "This is especially troubling because the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada has not only generated a lot of discussion, but has also brought this issue out into the open." According to the chambre, only 19 per cent of Quebeckers in common law unions are protected by a cohabitation agreement. The chambre has also urged the government to consider reforms of what has traditionally been viewed as a freedom of choice issue in the province and a parallel rejection of government imposition of a rights regime on couples who decide not to legally marry. — KL 13-02-12 4:04 PM

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