Divorcing After 50 in BC: What's Different

• After a divorce or nullity judgment, the division is mandatory once the federal Minister is informed of the judgment and receives the prescribed information. Neither ex-spouse has to consent.
• Married spouses who have separated but not divorced can apply for a division once they have lived separate and apart for at least one year.
• Former common-law partners can apply after they have lived separate and apart for at least one year, and the application generally must be made within four years of separation, unless both former partners agree in writing to allow a later one.

Two more limits come from the same section: the couple must have cohabited for at least one continuous year for a division to take place (section 55.1(3)), and only the months of cohabitation are divided (section 55.1(4)). Credit splitting changes each person's CPP record, which can affect the CPP benefits each of you later receives.

How Long Does Spousal Support Last After a Long Marriage?

Spousal support in a later-life divorce is shaped by the length of the marriage. Lawyers and courts in BC routinely consult the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG) when working out amount and duration. One thing should be clear first: the SSAG are advisory only. They have not been legislated, they are not legally binding, and entitlement to support still has to be established before any formula matters.

For spouses without dependent children, the SSAG's without child support formula suggests a duration of half a year to one year of support for each year of marriage. But the SSAG treat duration as indefinite, meaning no end date is specified, in two situations:

• the marriage lasted 20 years or longer, or
• the marriage lasted at least five years, and the years of marriage plus the support recipient's age at separation add up to 65 or more. This is known as the rule of 65.

The rule of 65 is why support looks different after 50. Take a 15-year marriage that ends when the lower-income spouse is 52: fifteen plus fifty-two is sixty-seven, so the rule is met and the SSAG point toward support with no specified end date. Indefinite does not mean fixed forever, since support can still be reviewed or varied, but it removes the presumption of a built-in end.

Every case turns on its own facts, and on entitlement. Our spousal support page explains how these claims are built and defended.

What Should You Do with the Family Home?

If the home is family property, section 81 of the Family Law Act gives each spouse a presumptive half interest on separation. After 50, the realistic options tend to look like this:

• Sell and divide the proceeds. This frees up equity for two smaller households and is often the cleanest path when retirement is close.
• One spouse buys out the other. The buyer usually needs to refinance alone, or offset the other spouse's share against a pension or other assets.
• Keep the home jointly for a defined period, with clear written terms about expenses and the eventual sale.

There is no single right answer. The point is to run the numbers for your retirement plans before you commit to keeping a house, because home equity that cannot pay for groceries is a common trap in later-life settlements.

Do You Need to Update Your Will and Beneficiary Designations?

Yes, and treat it as urgent rather than optional. Separation and divorce usually change what you want to happen with your estate, your life insurance and your registered accounts, and the rules about how separation affects an existing will and existing designations are a matter of estate law with real traps in them.

We practise family law, not estates law, so our advice on this point is simple and firm: as part of your separation, talk to a wills and estates lawyer about your will, your beneficiary designations and any powers of attorney. Do it early, not after the family law file closes.

Where Can You Get Advice?

SiLaw Group Family Lawyers works with separating spouses across Surrey, White Rock and the surrounding communities, and later-life divorce is a regular part of that work. If you are separating after a long marriage, our Surrey divorce lawyers can help you understand your pension, support and property position before anything is signed. We also meet clients at our White Rock office, close to home for people on the Semiahmoo Peninsula.