Spousal Support and Retirement

As is prevalent in most Family Law cases in Ontario, each matter is judged on its specific facts. The common law is considered to be judge-made law. This is because, unlike other Civil law traditions which are based on an actual code, the common law is predicated on the rulings of courts. Therefore, the common law is consistently and continuously evolving and changing.

In the case of Rozen v. Rozen, Justice Bernard was faced with a motion brought by the former husband, the payor, to vary spousal support due to his retirement and non-competition clause. The husband was earning significantly more money in the previous couple of years, and now felt as though he should not be paying the amount the parties had agreed upon in the year 2003 because circumstances had changed.

Justice Bernard rejected the husband’s position and ruled that because the support was based on compensatory grounds, coupled with the fact that had the case been brought when the SSAG existed – the actual quantum awarded would have been less than the mid-range SSAG quantum, the husband could not argue to vary the quantum of spousal support due to his recent retirement.

To learn more about spousal support and retirement as well as the services provided by Krol & Krol, call 905.707.3370 today.