Division of Matrimonial Property on Death, Final Report 83

This report addresses the underlying conflict between the principles of matrimonial property law and succession law that causes unfair results for a surviving spouse who under the existing law does not have a cause of action under the Matrimonial Property Act. The surviving spouse of a marriage terminated by death should not have fewer remedies than the spouse in a marriage terminated by divorce. The contribution of a spouse to a marriage should be recognized either […]

May 29, 2000

Reform of the Intestate Succession Act, Final Report 78

The current scheme for intestate succession is patterned after legislation created in 1670. The report aims to reform the Intestate Succession Act in a manner more in line with the modern presumed intention of intestates, which has been gleaned through an examination of various studies. This report recommends that if an intestate died leaving a surviving spouse and issue, and all of the issue were of the surviving spouse, the entire estate should go to the surviving […]

June 29, 1999

Family Law v. 18.4–Child Guardianship, Custody and Access, Report for Discussion 18.4

As addressed in the other reports in this series, Alberta law relating to the care of children (at the time of this report’s publication) included a variety of statutory provisions that were out-dated, inconsistent, and/or had uncertain scope. For this reason, this report begins from a “clean slate” in trying to define (i) child guardianship, (ii) custody, and (iii) access, and to determine how these issues can be decided in order to protect the best […]

October 2, 1998

Family Law v. 18.3–Child Support, Report for Discussion 18.3

This report was written to address five concerns about child support law at the time of its publication, viz.: the inadequacy of child support awarded; inconsistency of award between similar families; inefficiency in assessment; inequality based on “legitimacy” of birth; and unaddressed complexities based on the inter-relation between spousal support, custody of children, and child support. This report expounds recommendations for a new approach to child support, which is meant to foster equality for all […]

Family Law v. 18.2–Spousal Support, Report for Discussion 18.2

At the time of publication, Alberta’s law relating to spousal support after a divorce was unique in Canada, in that it incorporated the “fault doctrine.” This doctrine holds that in order to obtain support, a spouse must prove that he or she is the “innocent party” in the divorce (i.e., not responsible for the marriage breakdown), and that the other spouse is culpable (i.e., responsible for the marriage breakdown). This report suggests the elimination of […]

Family Law v. 18.1–Overview, Report for Discussion 18.1

This report presents the criticisms of Family Law (as it stood at the time of publication) that led to the initiation of the Family Law project by the ALRI. Chief among these criticisms: much of Alberta family law is outdated; family Law is split up among several different pieces of legislation; different parts of Alberta family law are not consistent with each other; family law is controlled by numerous different bodies, with no central authority. […]

Division of Matrimonial Property on Death, Report for Discussion 17

At the time of publication, there was a contradiction in the law of Alberta regarding marital property. If a marriage dissolved, each spouse would be presumed to have contributed equally to the marriage (barring evidence to the contrary), and therefore to be entitled to an even share of the marital property, regardless of the name on title. On the other hand, if one spouse died before the other, he or she would have complete freedom […]

March 2, 1998

Protection Against Domestic Abuse, Final Report 74

This Report has two primary aims. The first goal is to facilitate the ability of abused individuals to obtain and enforce orders to protect them from their abusers. The process presently in place requires a Court of Queen’s Bench appearance, usually requires lawyers, and can be expensive. The report favours granting with the Provincial Court with the power to issue protection orders. This will lower the cost and expand the geographic accessibility of these orders. […]

February 1, 1997

Division of Pension Benefits Upon Marriage Breakdown, Consultation Memorandum 1

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 […]

September 1, 1995

Domestic Abuse: Toward an Effective Legal Response, Report for Discussion 15

June 2, 1995