Divorce & Separation
How Long Does Spousal Support Last in BC After Separation
By SiLaw Group Family LawyersPublished Nov 13, 2026 · 6 min read
There is no fixed term. Spousal support can run for a set period, until a specified event, or with no end date. In BC, the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines tie duration to the length of the relationship, becoming indefinite after 20 years or under the rule of 65.
Duration moves as much money as the monthly amount, yet it gets far less attention. SiLaw Group Family Lawyers hears the same question from both sides of the table: payors want to know when it ends, and recipients want to know whether it will. This post explains what the statutes say about duration, how the Advisory Guidelines measure it, what "indefinite" really means, and how reviews and variation can change the answer later. For the wider picture, start with our spousal support services page.
What Do the Statutes Say About How Long Support Lasts?
Neither statute sets a schedule. Section 15.2(3) of the Divorce Act lets a court make a spousal support order, or an interim order, "for a definite or indefinite period or until a specified event occurs", and attach the terms and conditions it thinks fit and just. Section 170(a) of the Family Law Act gives British Columbia courts the same menu: periodic payments for an indefinite or limited period, or until a specified event occurs.
What drives the choice is the same set of factors that drives the amount. Under section 15.2(4) of the Divorce Act, the court considers the condition, means, needs and other circumstances of each spouse, including the length of time the spouses cohabited, the functions each performed during cohabitation, and any order, agreement or arrangement about support. Section 162 of the Family Law Act lists the same three considerations in almost the same words, and makes clear that both amount and duration are decided on them. Length of the relationship is written into the law as a factor, which is why it sits at the centre of the Advisory Guidelines.
How Do the Advisory Guidelines Measure Duration Without Children?
The Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines are not legislation. They are an advisory tool and their use is voluntary, but lawyers, mediators and judges in British Columbia use them constantly, so their durational ranges shape most negotiations. Our page on how the SSAG produce amount and duration explains the two formulas. Here the focus is duration only.
Where there are no dependent children, the Guidelines' without child support formula generates a range: a minimum of half the length of the relationship and a maximum of the full length. Ten years together suggests five to ten years of support. The Guidelines count the whole period of cohabitation, including time living together before the wedding, ending at separation. They also say the ranges are admittedly broad, with the upper end effectively double the lower end, and that using the formula for amount while ignoring duration is a misapplication, because amount and duration are a package.
Two situations remove the end date altogether:
- Twenty years or longer. Support is indefinite, which the Guidelines now write as "indefinite (duration not specified)".
- The rule of 65. If the relationship lasted five years or longer, and the years of the relationship plus the recipient's age at separation add up to 65 or more, duration is again not specified. The Guidelines explain this as a recognition that age affects the ability to become self-supporting. It is a rule about duration only. The amount still scales with the length of the relationship.
The rule of 65 is not available for relationships under five years. The Guidelines describe short marriages without children as always producing time limits, and medium-length marriages of roughly five to nineteen years as the hardest cases, where practice varies and duration is often left to later reviews and variation.
What Does "Indefinite" Actually Mean?
Not permanent. The Guidelines' own text is emphatic that indefinite means an order made without a time limit at the time it is made, subject to the normal processes of variation and review. The authors added the phrase "duration not specified" precisely because people kept reading indefinite as infinite. Through review and variation the amount can fall, income can be imputed to a recipient who does not make reasonable efforts to earn, and support can end if the basis for entitlement disappears.
The Guidelines also note that indefinite orders after long marriages are commonly revisited when the payor retires and pension income starts flowing to one or both spouses. The Family Law Act has a provision written for that moment, which our page on spousal support and retirement explains. If you are separating later in life, our post on divorcing after 50 in BC covers the related issues.
How Is Duration Handled When There Are Children?
Differently, and more softly. Under the with child support formula, the Guidelines say initial orders continue to be indefinite in form, subject to review or variation, with generally understood outside limits on cumulative duration that inform that process. Those outside limits combine the length of the marriage with the length of the remaining child-rearing period. In plain terms, while children are still dependent the order usually has no stated end date, and the durational range sits in the background as the boundary for later reviews and variation applications.
Does Interim Support Count Toward the Total?
Yes. The Guidelines are clear that any period of interim support is included within the durational ranges under either formula. Support paid while the case is pending is part of the same clock, not a bonus period.
How Do Reviews, Variation and End Dates Fit Together?
Three statutory mechanisms determine how a duration set on paper plays out in life.
Review. Section 168 of the Family Law Act lets an agreement or order provide for a review of support on or after a specified date, after a specified period, or after a specified event, and lets it name the grounds and the matters to be considered. On a review the court can confirm the arrangement, end it, or make a new order, without having to find a change in circumstances. Our post on spousal support reviews walks through how a review hearing runs.
Variation. Where there is no review clause, support changes through a variation application. Section 167(2) of the Family Law Act requires at least one of the following: a change in the condition, means, needs or other circumstances of either spouse, substantial new evidence that was not available before, or a lack of financial disclosure discovered after the order. Section 17(4.1) of the Divorce Act applies the change in circumstances test to orders made under that Act. Our guide to varying and terminating spousal support covers both routes.
A true end date. If an order requires support for a definite period or until a specified event, both statutes make it hard to revive support after the period expires. Section 167(3) of the Family Law Act and section 17(10) of the Divorce Act allow it only to relieve economic hardship arising from a qualifying change related to the relationship, and only where the changed circumstances would likely have produced a different order in the first place. A fixed end date is therefore a meaningful commitment, not a placeholder.
Agreements can also build the end point in directly. Section 163(1) of the Family Law Act allows a spousal support agreement to set out the circumstances under which support will change or end, expressly including a spouse living with another person or entering a new relationship. Our page on spousal support agreements explains review clauses and fixed terms.
Talk to a Family Lawyer About How Long Support Should Last
Ask about duration as early as you ask about amount, and know whether a review date or a fixed term fits your situation before you sign anything. The first 30 minutes with SiLaw Group are free, by phone, video, or in person in South Surrey. Call (778) 381-9977 or Book Now for a Free Consultation.
This post is legal information, not legal advice. Rules and fees are current to the date of writing and can change.
About SiLaw Group
SiLaw Group Family Lawyers is a Surrey, BC firm practising family law and mediation. Founder Sandy Sihota is an accredited Family Law Mediator, Arbitrator and Parenting Coordinator (Law Society of BC). Articles are legal information, not legal advice.