Publications
Matrimonial Property Act: Valuation Date, Final Report 107
Currently, Alberta’s Matrimonial Property Act [MPA] requires matrimonial property to be valued at the date of trial. This is in direct opposition to many other matrimonial property statutes across Canada, which have opted to use the date of separation as the default valuation date. An Alberta case law review indicates that valuation date is one of the most problematic areas under the MPA, with valuation at trial reducing the chances of settlement and leading to […]
| AREA OF LAW | Family Law |
| TAGS | divorce, matrimonial, Property, separation, settlement, spouse, valuation |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | FR107.pdf |
September 1, 2015
Matrimonial Property Act: Valuation Date, Report for Discussion 25
The Matrimonial Property Act was enacted in 1978 and provides a method of sharing matrimonial property between spouses on marriage breakdown. What property is available for sharing and how is it valued? Since 2005, the law applied by the courts is that the property must be valued at trial. In reviewing Alberta cases since 2009, this date is problematic. It is an uncertain future date, assumes spouses will litigate to trial, and discourages earlier party driven settlements. […]
| AREA OF LAW | Family Law Marriage & Divorce |
| TAGS | divorce, matrimonial, Property, separation, settlement, spouse, valuation |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | RFD25_hyperlinks.pdf |
November 2, 2014
The Matrimonial Property Act: A Case Law Review
The Alberta Law Reform Institute proposed the legislation that became the Matrimonial Property Act (MPA) more than 30 years ago and there has been no substantive amendment to the MPA since then. ALRI has received suggestions that the legislation is in need of revision but there was little consensus as to which areas were in need of review. In order to advance the research, ALRI financed the work of Annie Voss-Altman, a student at the […]
| TAGS | divide, house, assets, dispute, division, divorce, family, matrimonial, Property, separation, valuation |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | RP-MPA-Case-Law.pdf |
October 8, 2010
Division of Matrimonial Property on Death, Final Report 83
This report addresses the underlying conflict between the principles of matrimonial property law and succession law that causes unfair results for a surviving spouse who under the existing law does not have a cause of action under the Matrimonial Property Act. The surviving spouse of a marriage terminated by death should not have fewer remedies than the spouse in a marriage terminated by divorce. The contribution of a spouse to a marriage should be recognized either […]
| AREA OF LAW | Wills and Succession Family Law |
| TAGS | expansion, judicial, discretion, death, division, matrimonial, Property, spouse |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | fr083.pdf |
May 29, 2000
Division of Matrimonial Property on Death, Report for Discussion 17
At the time of publication, there was a contradiction in the law of Alberta regarding marital property. If a marriage dissolved, each spouse would be presumed to have contributed equally to the marriage (barring evidence to the contrary), and therefore to be entitled to an even share of the marital property, regardless of the name on title. On the other hand, if one spouse died before the other, he or she would have complete freedom […]
| AREA OF LAW | Family Law Marriage & Divorce |
| TAGS | administration, death, deceased, division, estate, matrimonial, Property, spouse, valuation |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | rfd17.pdf |
March 2, 1998
Section 16 of the Matrimonial Property Act, Final Report 57
Section 16 of the Matrimonial Property Act, RSA 1980, c M-9, stated that the rights of a person who started a property action against a spouse did not survive that person’s death, and thus the action could not be continued by his or her estate. This was based on the legal policy that matrimonial property should be available for the use of a surviving spouse. This report notes that, in practice, this section led to […]
| AREA OF LAW | Family Law Marriage & Divorce |
| TAGS | child, death, deceased, estate, marriage, matrimonial, minor, Property, spouse |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | fr057.pdf |
| ENACTMENT |
Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 1991, SA 1991, c 21, s 24 amending the Matrimonial Property Act (now RSA 2000, c M-8, s 16). |
March 1, 1990
Matrimonial Property: Division of Pension Benefits Upon Marriage Breakdown, Final Report 48
This report recommends amendments to the Matrimonial Property Act to improve the division of the benefits of a pension plan upon marriage breakdown. It covers all pension plans that fall under provincial jurisdiction or that can be reached by Alberta court orders. Recommendations are designed to achieve fairness, minimize the future entanglement of spouses’ financial affairs, encourage settlements, minimize financial and emotional costs, and protect the interests of the employers and other employees in pension plans and […]
| AREA OF LAW | Family Law Marriage & Divorce |
| TAGS | husband, wife, value, divorce, matrimonial, pension, Property, settlement, spouse |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | fr048.pdf |
August 2, 1986
Matrimonial Property: Division of Pension Benefits upon Marriage Breakdown, Report for Discussion 2
The Attorney General asked the Institute to study the division of pensions in the event of marriage breakdown with a view to proposing statutory guidelines to be used by the Court. This report provides tentative proposals that were followed up and solidified in the final report relating to pension plans registered under the Pension Benefits Act (Alberta), a number of Alberta public sector pension plans, and non-Alberta pension plans under which Alberta law will be applied to […]
| AREA OF LAW | Family Law Marriage & Divorce |
| TAGS | husband, wife, value, divorce, matrimonial, pension, Property, settlement, spouse |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | rfd2.pdf |
May 2, 1985
Conference Materials, International Invitational Conference on Matrimonial and Child Support, 27-30 May 1981, Research Paper 14
This report is a summary of a conference held to discuss the results of Research Paper #13, Matrimonial Support Failures: Reasons, Profiles and Perceptions of Individuals Involved. The report includes four speeches given at that conference, viz.: “Paying of Maintenance in Sweden,” by Anders Agell; “Matrimonial Support Failures: Reasons, Profiles, and Perceptions of Individuals Involved, a Commentary,” by Judith Cassetty; “Maintenance in Britain,” by Colin Gibson; and “The Economics of Divorce: Social and Economic Consequences […]
| AREA OF LAW | Children Family Law Marriage & Divorce |
| TAGS | child, divorce, family, maintenance, marriage, matrimonial, paternity, support |
| FORMAT | Other |
| FILE | RPNo.14.pdf |
October 3, 1982
Matrimonial Support Failures: Reasons, Profiles and Perceptions of Individuals Involved: Volume 1 Summary Report, Volume 2 Technical Reports, Research Paper 13
This report was created in order to aid the reform of the matrimonial and child support system in Alberta. Before its publication, there was little data regarding the reasons for failure in the (then) extant system. The report analyzes data from the Supreme Court (now Court of Queen’s Bench) in Edmonton and Calgary, the Family Courts in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, and Grande Prairie, door-to-door surveys of those involved with maintenance orders, and a study of […]
| AREA OF LAW | Family Law Marriage & Divorce |
| TAGS | child, divorce, family, maintenance, marriage, matrimonial, paternity, support |
| FORMAT | Publications |
| FILE | RPNo.13.pdf |
March 3, 1981