A new study shows that the reality of modern families is often at odds with the law in the event of marital breakup.
McGill University Law Professor Robert Leckey authored the study with the Institute for Research on Public Policy.
The study examines questions of custody, marriage and divorce, and the legal recognition of unmarried couples.
Leckey says there have been a number of news stories in recent years suggesting the way Canadian families are set up these days, might be out of whack with family law.
While the most common form of family continues to be the married couple, Leckey says 13 per cent of households nationwide consist of unmarried couples.
The numbers are even higher in Quebec where common law relationships make up 30 percent of the province’s households, and over 60 percent of the children born there are to unmarried couples.
He says there has also been a lot of discussion about issues like parental leave and subsidized day care.
As for common-law couples, Leckey says the government will treat you as married for tax purposes if you’ve been living together for three years.
He says in Ontario, common law couples who break up are required to pay support, but each party doesn’t have the right to share assets in the other partners name.
Leckey says the laws need to change to better reflect the changing fabric of Canadian family life.
He suggests provincial governments create an intermediate status between parent and legal stranger in child custody matters.
Leckey says laws across Canada allow the person who has custody of the children during a marriage breakup to have exclusive use of the home and access to the kids.
The same rules don’t exist for common law couples with children, and that’s something Leckey says legislators should look at changing.