National Post

How a new law in B.C. turned thousands of live-in lovers into married couples
Across B.C. on Monday morning, thousands of “roommates with benefits” and shacked-up lovers are awaking to find that, according to the provincial government, they were now basically married.

Under the province’s Family Law Act, which comes into force on March 18, breakups between any couple that has shared the same roof for more than two years — or has had a child together — will now carry many of the trappings of divorce, including a 50/50 division of assets and debts.

“For young couples who live together for a couple of years and then live with somebody else for a couple of years, it’s going to be interesting to see if they’re going to start making claims,” said Georgialee Lang, a Vancouver family lawyer and arbitrator. (Illustration by Chloe Cushman)