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After you separate, each of you has a right to half of all family property, unless you have an agreement that says you'll divide your property differently.

Family property includes things such as:

• the family home
• vacation homes in or outside Canada
• cars
• household items
• bank accounts
• pensions
• RRSPs
• investments
• insurance policies
• an interest in a business
• safety deposit boxes
• private or personal loans owed to you

It doesn't matter whose name the property is in. For more information, see Dividing property and debts after you separate.

This applies whether you're married or you lived in a marriage-like relationship (common-law) for at least two years.

You can agree to divide your family property unequally. If there's a dispute about this and you have to go to court, the Supreme Court judge or master will base their decisions on a number of factors, including whether it would be significantly unfair to divide the property equally. Equal division is very common.

If one of you challenges an agreement that divides family property unequally, the judge/master will look carefully at how you reached that agreement. (For example, was all information shared? Did one of you take advantage of the other?) They'll also look at whether the agreement is "significantly unfair." See Making an agreement after you separate for more information.

Excluded property

Family property doesn't include excluded property. You don't have to split the value of excluded property equally if you separate or divorce. This includes property that you had before your relationship started. This also includes gifts and inheritances you got before or during the relationship, and awards for damages such as an insurance settlement. For more information, see Dividing property and debts after you separate.

But if that excluded property increases in value while you live together, the increase is considered family property. You're each entitled to half of the increased value. For example, if you owned a house before you started living together, your spouse wouldn't be entitled to an equal share of the house's value after you separate. But they would be entitled to half of however much the house's value increased since you started living together.

Not all types of property are covered in this section. Other options are available in the CLEBC Manual.

Your basic information — Instructions

Type in the same short names for you, the other person, and your children that you used in the introductory clauses. They'll then appear below in place of Party 1, Party 2, or Name.

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You must share information about all your property, whether you own it together or separately. This is so it can be dealt with fairly and your agreement will stand up in court.

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 1, type in the minimum amount of any asset either of you must disclose to the other person.
• If you include clause 1, also include clause 2, 3, or 4.

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If your family owns a home, you have three main options after separation:

• sell the home and split what's left after you pay the mortgage and other financial obligations;
• one person stays in the family home and either:
  • buys out the other's share, or
  • has the value of the other person's share added into an overall settlement (pay out); or
• the primary caregiver stays in the home until the children reach a certain age.

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It's important to identify your family home so there's no confusion about which property you're referring to.

Type in the street address of your family home. The rest of the agreement will refer to it as "the family home."

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If both of you have agreed that one of you will stay in the family home for the time being, your agreement should set out the circumstances that will end this arrangement. For example, you might agree that the children's primary caregiver will remain in the family home until your youngest child reaches a certain age. Or you might agree that one person will live in the family home until it's sold.

Your agreement should set out in some detail who will pay for the various household expenses. There are three types of expenses to think about:

• the mortgage
• regular ongoing expenses, such as hydro, cable, and house insurance
• major maintenance, such as repairs and renovations

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clauses 25 – 32, click the name of the person who will live in the home. The field updates with their name.
  • For clause 26, type in the age your youngest child must reach before the person living in the home is expected to leave the family home.
  • For clause 28, click the name of the person living in the home. Type in the number of days they must live with another adult before they're expected to leave the family home.
  • For clause 31, Click the name of the person living in the home. The field updates with their name. Type in whether all or part of the home must be rented before they're expected to leave the home.
• For clause 33, click the name of the person who will be responsible for making mortgage payments. The field updates with their name.
• For clause 34, type in the percentage of the mortgage each of you will pay.
• For clause 35, click the name of the person who will pay the life insurance premiums on the mortgage.
• For clause 36:
  • Click the name of the person who will pay for ongoing household expenses.
  • Type in any other expenses not already listed.
• For clause 37:
  • Click the name of the person who will pay for ongoing household expenses.
  • Type in any other expenses not already listed and what percentage of the expenses each of you will pay.
• For clause 38:
  • Click the name of the person who will be responsible for major maintenance and repairs.
  • Type in the types of repairs and maintenance they'll be responsible for.
• For clause 39:
  • Type in the types of repairs and maintenance each of you will be responsible for and what percentage of the repairs and maintenance each of you will pay.

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Include all the clauses that apply.

• Include clauses 40 – 46 as applicable to set out the expenses you'll pay for out of the proceeds of the sale of the home.
• Include clause 47 or 48 to set out how you'll divide the balance of the sale.
• For clause 48, type in the percentage of the total each of you will receive.

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Sometimes when couples separate, one person must take steps to protect the property they own together or separately. For example, you might be worried that your spouse will take out a loan and use the family home as collateral. In this case, you could take steps to protect your property. You could file an entry on the title under the Land Title Act or relating to claims being made under the Family Law Act. These are both called "charges" against the property. Once you've negotiated your agreement about all of the family law questions, these charges must be removed.

Other options, plus more detailed clauses, are available in the CLEBC manual.

• If clause 49 applies, click the name of the person who has registered a charge against the family home.

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You might need to divide many other types of property other than land or houses. This section covers only the most common types:

• personal possessions and household goods,
• motor vehicles,
• bank accounts, and
• pets.

For information about other types of property and assets, see the CLEBC manual.

These things are also divided using the rules described in the introductory clauses. Basically, you each have a right to half of everything you acquired during the relationship.

Before setting out how you'll divide any particular type of property, describe that property. This means you need to provide:

• bank account numbers,
• credit card numbers, and
• addresses, etc.

You can do that at the beginning of the property section of your agreement or in a separate schedule at the end.

If it's in a schedule, you need to refer to it in the agreement.

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If your personal possessions aren't too valuable and you've agreed to each keep what you've taken, you can include clause 50 in your agreement. You can also use this as a catch-all if you also include a provision dividing other specific listed items.

If your personal possessions and household goods have a higher value or you want a more formal approach to dividing them, you can list who gets what using the other clauses. Or you can list them in a separate document called a Schedule.

If you choose to list your property in a Schedule, type the list on a separate piece of paper and give it the heading "Schedule 1." (If you have more than one Schedule, number them accordingly.) You'll need to attach the schedules to your agreement.

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 51, type in how you'll divide the contents of the family home. (For example, will you divide them equally? will one person keep everything? etc.)
• For clauses 52 and 53:
  • Click the name of the person the property belongs to. The field updates with their name.
  • Type in the possessions and household goods.
• For clause 54, type in the Schedule number.
• For clause 55, click the name of the person who will begin the selection of property. The field updates with their name.

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Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 56:
  • Click the name of the person transferring the vehicle. The field updates with your names.
  • Type in the year, make, and model of the vehicle to be transferred (for example, "2014 Ford Focus").
• For clause 57:
  • Click the name of the person buying the vehicle. The field updates with your names.
  • Type in the amount they'll pay for the vehicle and the vehicle's year, make, and model.
• For clause 58:
  • Click the name of the person keeping the first vehicle. The field updates with your names.
  • b. Type in the year, make, and model of the vehicle each of you will keep.

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You might have assets in the form of money in chequing or savings accounts. You might also have:

• Canada Savings Bonds,
• treasury bills,
• guaranteed investment certificates,
• term deposits, or
• cash in hand, perhaps kept in a safety deposit box or elsewhere.

It's important to first list your assets. The clauses below are geared toward bank accounts but can be adapted for other types of assets.

Include clauses 59– 62 to list shared accounts that will be divided.

Include clauses 63– 67 if you have separate bank accounts and assets and don't plan to divide them.

• For clauses 59 – 62:
  • Type in the account type and where the account is held.
  • Type in the date (if different from what's listed) and the amount in the account.
  • For clause 63, type in the types of assets (for example, chequing accounts, savings accounts, term deposits, etc.).
  • For clauses 64 – 67:
    • Click the name of the person whose asset you're listing. The field updates with their name.
    • Type in the type of asset and the name of the bank or credit union where it's held.

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You might decide that even though you have separate bank accounts, it would be fair for you both to leave the relationship with the same amount of cash.

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 68:
  • Click the name of the person who will pay out the other person. The field updates with your names.
  • Type in the amount, account type, account numbers, and date.
• For clause 69, type in the date.
• For clause 70:
  • Click the name of the person who will be responsible for the overdraft. The field updates with their name.
  • Type in the date.
• For clause 71, click the name of the person who will pay back the other person for expenses or losses from the overdraft. The field updates with your names.
• For clause 72:
  • Click the name of the person who will keep the joint accounts. The field updates with your names.
  • Type in the name of the bank or credit union.

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Agreeing on what to do about family pets can be difficult and emotional. Pets are property, but obviously they can't be "divided" like some other types of property. In some cases, people make arrangements for their pets that are very similar to parenting arrangements with children. If you want to take that approach, look at Section 2: Parenting for options.

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 73:
  • Click the name of the person who will keep the pets. The field updates with your names.
  • List the pets for which they'll be responsible.
• For clause 74:
  • Click the name of the person who will keep the pets. The field updates with your names.
  • Type in the amount that person will pay the other person as compensation for half of the value of the pets, and list the pets.
• For clause 75:
  • Click the name of the person who will keep the pets. The field updates with your names.
  • List the pets and type in when the other person will have access to the pets (for example, every other weekend or once a month).
• For clause 76, type in which pets the relevant person will keep.

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The BC Family Law Act considers pension benefits to be family property. That means that you're both entitled to an equal portion of the pension that either of you accumulated while you were living together.

The clauses below address only some of the more common pension and benefit situations. This page will help you figure out if you can use these clauses. Many employees have complicated compensation packages that might include other types of pension entitlement and other benefits, many of which are quite valuable. These will not be covered in this guide.

If you have a pension from another province or country, other laws might apply. For example, different laws apply if either of you has earned benefits under Québec's QPP.

The CLEBC manual covers additional issues and has more advice. But this is an area where it's often a good idea to get expert help to address any questions you might have.

How you set out your agreement depends on:

• whether or not the pension is being paid, and
• whether you want to split it.

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Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 78:
  • Click the name of the person who will be receiving the other person's pension benefits and filing the prescribed forms. The field updates with your names.
  • Type in the plan name.
• For clause 79:
• • Click the name of the person who's claiming a share of the other person's pension. The field updates with your names.
  • Type in the dates for calculating the member's share.
• For clause 80, click the name of the person who's a member of the pension. The field updates with your names.

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Include all the clauses that apply.

There are two clauses here in case each of you is giving up any claim to the other's pension benefits.
For clauses 81 and 82:

• Click the name of the person who is not a member of the pension plan. The field updates with your names.
• Type in the name of the plan.

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If one of you has retired and is receiving a monthly pension, then the other spouse is entitled to receive a share of each monthly pension payment from the plan administrator.

If the pension is being paid, you also need to consider how to adjust for any payments that were made before you arranged for pension division. Should one spouse have to pay compensation for past payments? If so, from what date? If the pension holder has been paying child/spousal support during this period, is that meant to be a share of the pension?

• For clause 83, click the name of the person who's a member of the pension. The field updates with your names. Type in:
  • the amount they must pay the other person to compensate for any amount the member has received since the separation.
  • the dates for which the compensation applies.
  • the amount the member will pay the non-member each month.

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When a person retires, they must make choices about what kind of pension to take. Often a survivor benefit is part of that pension. This is a benefit paid to the pension member's spouse if the member dies first.

When a relationship ends, the spouse with the pension plan often wants someone other than their ex-spouse to have the survivor benefit (a new spouse, for example). But under BC law, there is no way to give the survivor benefit to someone else. The former spouse can agree to pay the survivor benefits to another person. But they must sign a waiver (Form P5 under the Family Law Act) to do this.

There are very few circumstances where a former spouse would want to agree to do that. This is because the former spouse needs those benefits for retirement security as well.

If one of you is waiving pension division, be careful if one or both of you has survivor's benefits under the other's plan. If one of you is still working, a common arrangement is to let the pension member keep the monthly pension benefit until the working spouse retires.

Include clause 84 if one of you agrees to waive pension division, but wants to keep the survivor benefits under the member's pension:

• Click the name of the person giving up their share of the member person's pension.
• Type in the plan name.

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The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions each of you made during the time you lived together can be divided equally after divorce or separation. This is called credit splitting. Credits can be divided even if one spouse or common-law partner didn't make contributions to the CPP.

Credit splitting might help you qualify for benefits. And it can affect the amount of any current or future benefits under the CPP for both you and your former spouse or partner.

Include one of the following two clauses.

• For clause 85, type in the date you and the other person started living together and the date you separated.

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For clause 87:

• Click the name of the person who will be transferring money from their RRSPs. The field updates with your names.
• Type in the amount and the registered plan type.