Family Law


The Situation in Alberta

In the past, cohabitating couples in Alberta had relatively few rights. They did have some claim for support from their partners if they had lived together as a couple for many years or had a child, but compared to married couples their rights were very limited. For example, if a partner in a common-law relationship died without a will, their estate went to their closest relative, not their partner.

Situations like this meant that people in common-law relationships had little legal protection. It was far too common for one partner to be left penniless if the other one died or simply walked out the door, one day.

Statutes like the Dependants Relief Act (or rather, its predecessor, the Family Relief Act ) and the Domestic Relations Act (now replaced by the Family Law Act ), designed to offer protection in some situations like this, applied chiefly to spouses. Cases like Pettkus v. Becker eventually offered some protection, but most people felt it was not nearly enough.

Pettkus v. Becker

Pettkus v. Becker [1980] was a landmark family decision of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding distribution of property when a Common Law relationship ends. - From  https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2562/index.do 
Rosa Becker and Lothar Pettkus were together in a common law relationship for 19 years. Over this period Pettusk ran a successful beehive operation. When the relationship fell apart, Becker attempted to claim half of the beehive business. She claimed that since her income went towards supporting Pettkus while he got his beehive business off the ground, she was entitled to a share in the business.

The Supreme Court ruled that Becker was entitled to half the assets.

However, after the ruling in Becker's favour, when the couple's assets were finally sold for cash ("liquidated"), Becker's lawyer took most of the share, and left her with nothing. In a tragic turn of events, Becker committed suicide on November 5, 1986. The suicide note accused the legal system of forcing her to do it.

Since this ruling, many provinces have added legislation that recognizes common law relationships when dividing assets. Alberta is one of these provinces.