Is it legal in BC for your spouse to kick you out of your shared home and assume exclusive possession of said home?
The answer is technically yes but, you would have to meet very specific conditions. The court does not easily grant an order ejecting someone from their own home.
To ask for exclusive possession of the family home, your spouse would need to provide clear evidence that it is a practical impossibility for the two of you to continue living together in the home. Among other things, practical impossibility may mean that continued shared use of the home would result in cruelty or assault to each other or even damage to your children’s welfare.
If you have been living separately for some time under the same roof, it would be especially difficult to obtain an order for exclusive possession of the home, especially if you have children who would benefit from having both parents living in the home.
If your spouse manages to prove that shared use of the home is a practical impossibility, he/she would then have to prove that they should be the one occupying the home. To determine whether or not to give the order, the court will consider things like whether your spouse is the primary caregiver of your children, your spouse’s financial situation, the relationship each of you have to your children, and yours and your spouse’s behaviour and overall conduct towards each other and your children while living in the family home.
If you or a loved one have separated from a spouse and are seeking advice regarding who gets to keep the family home, consult Vancouver and Burnaby Family Law Lawyer Andrew Rebane at Resolutions Law Corporation, Burnaby, British Columbia at [email protected] or 778-372-7107
