Common Law Property Rights Yukon

The Misconception That Trips Up Most Common-Law Couples

Many people in the Yukon assume that living together for a few years gives them the same property rights as a married couple. It doesn't. This is one of the most consequential misunderstandings in territorial family law, and it catches people off guard at exactly the wrong moment — when the relationship is ending.

Under the Family Property and Support Act (FPSA), Yukon recognizes common-law status for spousal support and estate purposes once two people have cohabited continuously for at least two years, or less than two years if they share a child. But that recognition does not extend to the automatic 50/50 property division that married spouses receive under Section 6.

The default rule for separating common-law partners in Yukon is straightforward and often harsh: each person keeps whatever is registered in their name. If the house, the truck, and the investment accounts are all in one partner's name, the other partner has no automatic statutory claim to any of it.

How You Can Claim a Share: Unjust Enrichment

Common-law partners aren't completely shut out, but the path to a property claim is significantly harder than it is for married spouses. The primary legal tool is the equitable doctrine of unjust enrichment, which requires proving three elements:

1. Your partner was enriched — they received a tangible benefit (a renovated home, a paid-off mortgage, a thriving business)
2. You were correspondingly deprived — you gave up something (money, labour, career opportunities) to provide that benefit
3. There was no legal reason for the enrichment — no contract, gift, or other justification explains why your partner should keep the full benefit

If you succeed on all three elements, the court can impose a constructive trust over the property, giving you a proportional ownership interest based on your contributions. Alternatively, the court may award a monetary payment to compensate for the deprivation.

This is a court proceeding. You need to file an application, present evidence, and make legal arguments. It's a far cry from the relatively mechanical equal-division calculation that married spouses work through.

What Counts as a Contribution

Courts look at both direct and indirect contributions when evaluating unjust enrichment claims:

Direct financial contributions are the clearest to prove — mortgage payments, renovation costs, property taxes paid from your income, or direct investments into your partner's business.

Indirect contributions are harder but still recognized. If you managed the household and raised the children while your partner built a career and accumulated assets, that domestic contribution can ground an unjust enrichment claim. The Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed that homemaking and childcare create real economic value that benefits the other partner.

Labour and sweat equity also matter. If you spent years helping build a cabin, clear land, or improve a property that your partner owns, those hours of work represent a deprivation to you and an enrichment to them.

The challenge is documentation. Unlike the married property division process, where the court starts from a presumption of equal sharing, an unjust enrichment claim requires you to prove your case from the ground up. Bank records, receipts, photos of renovation work, testimony from people who witnessed your contributions — all of it matters.

Spousal Support Is Different

While property division doesn't automatically apply to common-law couples, spousal support does — once you meet the cohabitation threshold. Section 34 of the FPSA allows common-law partners to claim spousal support based on financial need, compensatory grounds, or a prior agreement.

A critical update: the Act to Amend the Family Property and Support Act that came into force on March 1, 2022, eliminated the old three-month limitation period that previously required common-law partners to apply for spousal support within 90 days of separation. For separations on or after that date, there is no deadline.

This change matters because spousal support and property division often interact. If you can't claim a share of property through the FPSA's equal division rules, spousal support may be the primary mechanism for addressing the economic imbalance that built up during the relationship.

The Constructive Trust Remedy

When a court finds unjust enrichment, the most powerful remedy it can impose is a constructive trust — a court-declared ownership interest in specific property. If you contributed substantially to the family home over a 10-year relationship, the court can declare that you own a proportional share of that property, even though your name was never on the title.

The size of your share depends on the extent of your contributions relative to the property's value. A court looks at financial contributions, domestic labour, the duration of the relationship, and how intertwined your economic lives became.

The alternative remedy is a monetary award — a cash payment calculated to compensate for the deprivation without granting an ownership interest in specific property. Courts tend to prefer monetary awards when the enrichment can be readily quantified and a constructive trust isn't necessary to achieve justice.

Which remedy applies has significant practical consequences. A constructive trust gives you a stake in the property itself, including any appreciation since separation. A monetary award is a fixed dollar amount that doesn't change based on what happens to the property's value after the court makes its decision.

Protecting Yourself Before and During the Relationship

The simplest protection is a cohabitation agreement — a written contract that sets out how property and debts will be divided if the relationship ends. These agreements are enforceable in Yukon and can replicate the certainty that the FPSA provides to married couples.

If you're already separating without an agreement, your priority should be assembling every piece of evidence that documents your financial and domestic contributions to the relationship. The more thoroughly you can demonstrate what you put in, the stronger your position in an unjust enrichment claim or support negotiation.

The Yukon Divorce Financial Split Guide includes asset inventory worksheets and a framework for documenting contributions that applies to both married and common-law separations — useful for organizing your position before you decide whether to negotiate, mediate, or go to court.

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