The Dower Act protects a spouse if the couple’s home is owned by the other spouse. It applies to a “homestead” which is a parcel of land where the owner lives or has lived. The Dower Act became law in Alberta over one hundred years ago. The last substantial reforms were in 1948. The Alberta Law Reform Institute's (ALRI) research and consultation shows that the Dower Act functions largely as intended, but it is outdated [...]
The law distinguishes between persons born i n wedlock and persons born out of wedlock. The distinctions are to the disadvantage of the person born out of wedlock, and we see no reason why the law should not do what it can to remove t h a t disadvantage. To that end, we will propose that the legal distinction between legitimate children and illegitimate children be done away with.
In conjunction with its project on property division for common law couples and adult interdependent partners, ALRI partnered with the Population Research Lab at the University of Alberta to carry out a survey of Albertans' attitudes and expectations towards cohabitation and property division. The survey resulted in 1,200 responses and helped guide the recommendations in Report for Discussion 30 - Property Division for Common Law Couples and Adult Interdependent Partners. Donna Fong, Rosanna Shih, and Dr. [...]
Although at the time of the publication of this report, many aspects of legal marriages were regulated by both statute and the common law, cohabitation between unmarried couples was not. This paper addresses the issue of the law as related to heterosexual cohabiting couples (homosexual couples and purely economic relationships were not addressed) by reviewing the (then-current) law in Alberta, as well as raising several legal issues that needed to be considered regarding cohabiting couples. [...]
The Alberta Law Reform Institute is considering whether to prepare a report and recommendations for the adoption of additional safeguards against abuse of Enduring Powers of Attorney (“EPAs”). In order that its consideration may be properly informed, the Institute solicits the comments and advice of the reader on these two questions: Should the law provide additional safeguards against abuse of Enduring Powers of Attorney (“EPAs”)? If the law should provide additional safeguards, what should the [...]
This report is to review the recommendations that were made in Report 48, Matrimonial Property: Division Benefits upon Marriage Breakdown, to see whether and how it should be revised. Report 48 made recommendations for changes in the law to make the division process fairer, more efficient and less costly, and to protect the interests of all concerned, including spouses, other beneficiaries, employers and plan administrators. This memorandum consists of a series of questions which are [...]
At the time of publication, there was legal differentiation within Alberta based on a child's "legitimacy" or lack thereof; in other words, whether the child was "the offspring of [a] stable union" or not. This paper assesses the law relating to the determination of "legitimacy" (at the time of publication), the effect legitimacy had on one's legal standing in various situations, and possible approaches to reform with an eye to reducing the distinction between "legitimate" [...]
This paper comprises opinions by Professor W.R. Lederman, Q.C., and Professor P.N. McDonald, on the constitutional validity (at the time of publication) of a unified family court in Alberta, including both federally appointed and provincially appointed judges (i.e. judges appointed by the Governor General in Council and the Lieutenant Governor in Council). Professor McDonald's opinion is actually comprised of a number of smaller opinions written in 1976 and 1977, which include responses to some other [...]
This report was created in order to aid the reform of the matrimonial and child support system in Alberta. Before its publication, there was little data regarding the reasons for failure in the (then) extant system. The report analyzes data from the Supreme Court (now Court of Queen's Bench) in Edmonton and Calgary, the Family Courts in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, and Grande Prairie, door-to-door surveys of those involved with maintenance orders, and a study of [...]
