Crown actress Claire Foy confirmed her separation from her husband Stephen Campbell
Moore recently. Foy and Campbell Moore were married for four years prior
to their separation. The couple have a two year old daughter together.
The couple released the following statement: “we have separated and
have been for some time. We do however continue as great friends with
the utmost respect for one another”.
What are Implications of Spousal Support on a Short Term Marriage ?
In Ontario, the spouse seeking
spousal support must establish an entitlement to the support before the quantum of support
or the duration of support may be determined. There are three grounds
on which the spouse seeking support may establish entitlement:
- Compensatory Claims
- Non-Compensatory Claims (needs based)
- Contractually Based Claims
A
compensatory claim stems from an economic benefit experienced by one spouse and a corresponding
loss to the other spouse as a result of the role the parties played during
the marriage. To explain, if one party stayed home to care for the children
so that the other was able to advance his/her career, the spouse who stayed
home with the children would like successfully establish entitlement for
support based on a compensatory claim.
A
non-compensatory claim, or a needs based claim, is a claim that can be made by one spouse to help cover his/her basic
needs or to maintain a certain standard of living such that it is commensurate
with the standard of living enjoyed during the marriage.
A
contractual based claim is one that is rooted in a contract or agreement between the spouses,
such as a marriage contract.
As per the above, a spouse seeking spousal support following the breakdown
of a short term marriage must establish entitlement to same.
In a short-term marriage where the couple has no children, it will likely
be difficult for the spouse seeking support to establish entitlement.
That is, the short term nature of the marriage will likely make it difficult
for the spouse seeking support to be successful in establish compensatory
entitlement due to the short amount of time that the couple resided together.
Moreover, if there is any disparity in the income of the two spouses that
existed at the start of cohabitation, then the disparity can easily be
explained as not being a result of the relationship or marriage. To this
end, entitlement may be difficult to establish.
Where a short-term marriage ends where the couple has children, the spouse
seeking support must still establish entitlement. Notably however, if
a recipient spouse is successful in establishing an entitlement to support,
the payor spouse is also paying child such, and as such, a different formula
for the calculation of spousal support must be applied. This can result
in a different determination for the period of time in which spousal support
is payable. Although the length of the period of cohabitation is still
relevant, we must also consider the age of the youngest child at the time
of separation. That is, in certain circumstances, spousal support may
be payable until the youngest child either enters full time school or
completes high school.
Notably, this formula, often referred to as the “with child”
formula will result in spousal support being paid for a period of time
much longer than the length of your relationship or marriage. The rationale
supporting this alternative formula is that the parent of a young child
may suffer some difficulty in the job market from having the responsibilities
of caring for that young child, such as getting that child to and from daycare.