What Living Common Law Means? Posted onOctober 7, 2014July 5, 2023/ Devry Smith Frank LLP Podcast #19 – What Living Common Law Means (and Doesn’t) The Ontario Family Law Podcast deals with issues related to marriage, separation, divorce and even some child welfare issues. The main host is John Schuman, a family lawyer, mediator, arbitrator and collaborative lawyer and is the partner managing the Family Law Group at Devry Smith Frank LLP (DSF). The Ontario Family Law Podcast discusses common-law relationships. Common-law relationships are not at all the same as being married. There are very important differences with regard to property rights and spousal support rights. Common-law couples are often entitled to a lot less than they think and, in this episode, John explains all of the differences. He also explains many important laws that apply to common relationships including: the rights of parents in common relationships child support where the parents are not married the lack of protection for common-law partners in relation to the family home restraining orders against a common-law partner the rights to make medical decisions for a common partner inheritance rights for common-law partners the definition of “common law” for tax purposes, how common-law partners’ rights can be modified with a cohabitation agreement and several other issues. What Living Common Law Does and Does Not Mean If you are living common law, you really should find out what that does and does not mean. Knowing how the law applies to your relationship may affect many of your decisions, including, perhaps, whether you stay in this relationship. Common partners can avoid getting themselves into serious trouble by listening to this podcast. This has been Podcast #20 in the Ontario Family Law Podcast, a series of podcasts produced by John Schuman, the head of Family Law Group at Devry Smith Frank LLP (DSF). We hope that you found this discussion of family court procedure helpful. Thanks for listening. For further information or assistance in regards to what living Common Law means, please contact John Schuman at TEL: 416-446-5080 or https://devrylaw.ca/family-lawyers/john-p-schuman/.