Common law国内称作事实婚。加拿大各省对事实婚的认可标准好象不太统一,但至少要同居一年以上。
法律承认的事实婚双方享受承担与传统婚姻同等的权力与义务。很多人因为各种原因选择common law,我有个同事孩儿都快上学了最近才要办婚礼。
Canada
In Canada, the legal definition and regulation of common-law marriage fall under provincial jurisdiction. With the exception of Saskatchewan, a couple must meet the requirements of their province's "capacity to marry" within the Marriage Act for their common-law marriage to be legally recognised under civil jurisdiction. Saskatchewan does allow married persons to have sametime multiple spouses when one conjugal union is a civil marriage and the other conjugal union is a common law marriage (at the same time). Although Saskatchewan's Marriage Act does not stipulate whether a person must have no existing marriage to be eligible to marry, common-law marriages may occur even while one or more civil marriages exist amongst the common law couple[citation needed].
According to the Canada Revenue Agency, as of 2007, a common-law relationship is true if at least one of the following applies:
a) the couple has been living in a conjugal relationship for at least 12 continuous months;
b) the couple are parents of a child by birth or adoption; or
c) one of the couple has custody and control of the other partner's child (or had custody and control immediately before the child turned 19 years of age) and the child is wholly dependent on that person for support.
For a full, up to date CRA description go here: Marital Status
In many cases common-law couples have the same rights as married couples under federal law. Various federal laws include "common-law status," which automatically takes effect once two people (of any gender) have lived together in a conjugal relationship for five full years. Common-law partners may be eligible for various federal government spousal benefits. As family law varies between provinces, there are differences between the provinces regarding the recognition of common-law marriage. No province, other than Saskatchewan, sanctions married persons to be capable in family law of having more than one spouse at the same time.
In 1999, after the court case M. v. H., the Supreme Court of Canada decided that same-sex partners would also be included in common-law relationships. In Saskatchewan, Queen's Bench justices have sanctioned common-law marriages as simultaneously existing in Family law whilst one or more of the spouses were also civilly married to others. There is no requirement for mutual consent to become the "legal spouse of a person who has an existing spouse" {S.51 Saskatchewan Family Property Act.}
[edit] Ontario
In Ontario, the Ontario Family Law Act specifically recognizes common-law spouses in sec. 29, dealing with spousal support issues; the requirements are living together for no less than three years[8] or having a child in common and having "cohabitated in a relationship of some permanence". The three years must be continuous, although a breakup of a few days during the period will not affect a person's status as common-law. No married person may become eligible to begin the three-year countdown to have a recognized common law spouse until divorce from the first spouse occurs. However, the part that deals with marital property excludes common-law spouses, as sec. 2 defines spouses as those who are married together or who entered into a void or voidable marriage in good faith. "Good faith" in a voidable marriage cannot occur if one or more of the persons are already married to another. Thus, common-law partners do not always evenly divide property in a breakup, and the courts have to look to concepts such as the constructive or resulting trust to divide property in an equitable manner between partners. Another difference that distinguishes common-law spouses from married partners is that a common-law partner can be compelled to testify against his or her partner in a court of law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage