Alberta Dower Act Consultation Summary

This document summarizes the results of consultations ALRI conducted for the it’s law reform project on the Alberta Dower Act. ALRI ran two online surveys. Both surveys were open from 3 December 2021 to 7 March 2022. One survey was aimed at the general public – the general survey. Another survey was aimed at professionals who use the Dower Act in their work, including lawyers, real estate brokers and agents, landmen, and estate planners or administrators […]

September 9, 2022

Improving Alberta’s Dower Act

February 15, 2022

Dower Act: Life Estate, Report for Discussion 37

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Reform Institute’s (ALRI) research and consultation shows that the Dower Act functions largely as intended, but it is outdated […]

November 24, 2021

Dower Act: Consent to Disposition, Report for Discussion 36

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Reform Institute’s (ALRI) research and consultation shows that the Dower Act functions largely as intended, but it is outdated […]

November 23, 2021

Mortgage Remedies in Alberta, Final Report 70

This report considers mortgages of land in Alberta, and the remedies that the law makes available to both the lender and the borrower in the event of default under such a mortgage. It reviews the existing Alberta law and practices. This report recommends that Alberta retain judicial supervision of the foreclosure actions as it is needed to ensure price adequacy in foreclosure sales in times of fluctuating land prices and ensures fair treatment to parties […]

June 29, 1994

Mortgage Remedies in Alberta, Report for Discussion 9

This report considers mortgages of land in Alberta, and the remedies that the law makes available to both the lender and the borrower in the event of default under such a mortgage. It reviews the existing Alberta law and practices. This report recommends that Alberta retain judicial supervision of the foreclosure actions as it is needed to ensure price adequacy in foreclosure sales in times of fluctuating land prices and ensures fair treatment to parties […]

April 2, 1991

Report on Referees, Research Paper 18

A referee is a person appointed to decide a specific, circumscribed question of fact. This person submits a report to the judge, who may decide to either accept or reject that report. In Alberta (at the time of publication), Masters in Chambers were official referees in all courts, and clerks and deputy clerks are official referees in the Provincial court, and could act as referees when required by the Court of Queen’s Bench. Outside of […]

February 3, 1990

Compensation for Security Interests in Expropriated Land, Final Report 41

This report considers different approaches to compensation for expropriated land which is subject to one or more security interests, especially mortgages. Current to the publication of the report (May 1984), compensation in these cases was regulated by s 49 of the Expropriation Act, RSA 1980, c E-16. This compensation was based on the “market value” theory, under which the security holder was paid market value of the security interest attached to the land, and the […]

May 1, 1984

Partition and Sale, Final Report 23

This report is a study of the law of partition and alternative methods of termination of co-ownership and contains a draft Act. The matrimonial home is the most common, but not the only, example of property which is the subject of co-ownership in Alberta. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two provinces in Canada that do not have revised legislation providing for termination of co-ownership. The current law in Alberta is contained in three English […]

March 1, 1977

Collateral Land Mortgages as Security for the Purchase of Chattels: Effect of Sections 106 and 107 of the Land Titles Act

January 3, 1975