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An interesting BC Court of Appeal decision of Bell awarded $5000 per month support to a woman in a long marriage who had already received $6,000,000 of property from the divorce settlement. The court found that although the wife had suffered no disadvantage from the marriage, she had suffered a disadvantage as a result of the marriage ending. It had been thought in many legal circles that receipt of substantial assets from a marriage breakdown would likely moderate or negate the need for spousal support. Here the husband’s income was found to be almost $650,000 per year while the wife’s was $210,000. The court did not strictly apply the new federal Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines given the $350,000 income exception and awarded $5000 per month although the Moge argument of equalizing incomes after a long term marriage was argued by the wife`s counsel. Clearly the large property award resulted in a lower support payment but some people might question why a spouse with $6 million of assets would get any support at all.
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Posts Tagged ‘BC spousal support advisory guidelines’
Do Federal and British Columbia Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines apply to high net worth family law cases? Isn’t 6 million enough to live on?
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009MacLean Family Law Group now accepts BC Family Law Clients from Penticton and the Okanagan
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Lorne MacLean is delighted to announce his BC Family Law firm the MacLean Family Law Group is accepting clients from Penticton BC and surrounding areas starting immediately. Call 1-877-602-9900 to set up appointments in Penticton British Columbia.
We can’t protect your heart but we can protect your rights!
BC SEPARATION AGREEMENT ENFORCEMENT AND VARIATION
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Parties often settle their marital breakdown differences by entering into a contract called a separation agreement. How are separation agreements enforced and in what courts in British Columbia? Our Family Relations Act (“FRA”) allows agreements to be filed in either the Provincial family Court or the Supreme Court of BC. Until recently there has been a dispute over whether the Supreme Court of BC has the power to vary a separation agreement or only the power to enforce it. This issue arose in K. v. K. 2009 BCSC 69 and the court held despite wording differences in the FRA, the Supreme Court has the power to VARY- meaning to change the terms of the contract- as well as to enforce.
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BC Family Asset and British Columbia Property Division and Reapportionment in Short to Medium Length Marriages Ending in British Columbia Divorce
Friday, February 20th, 2009
As Vancouver family lawyers and Fort St John
family law and divorce lawyers, we are often asked what BC courts do in shorter marriages in British
Columbia that end in divorce both with respect to British Columbia spousal
support and BC family asset division. We are also frequently asked what kind of
BC assets are divided at the end of a marriage?
We advise people that the test is- whether the assets were ordinarily
used for a family purpose. If you have a specific question concerning BC family
property division contact us as the courts have construed a family asset to
include a wide variety of family property. Our BC family law lawyers can be
reached toll-free throughout the province at 1-877-602-9900.
A recent British Columbia Court of Appeal
decision applying the spousal support advisory guidelines and dealing with
reapportionment of property in a seven-year marriage provide provides updated
guidance in determining what is a short marriage for purposes of
reapportionment of BC family assets and how it impacts on an award of
entitlement and quantum of spousal support in British Columbia.
In the decision of Wang V. Poon [2008] B.C.J. No
2113 our British Columbia Court of Appeal dealt with a seven-year marriage with
husband was 76 years old and his wife was 47 years of age some 30 years his
junior. The husband brought the majority of assets into the marriage and his
assets were used to purchase various condominiums.