Amendments to Family Law Act: Excluded property, pensions and pets

Significant amendments to the Family Law Act by the Family Law Amendment Act  (also known as Bill 17) in a number of areas include:

• division of excluded property now in force (see 85(3) (Clause 4 of B17)), which provides:

(3) If property is excluded from family property under subsection (1), the exclusion applies despite any transfer of legal or beneficial ownership of the property from a spouse to the other spouse

(see also s.81.1 (Clause 3 of B17) and s.96(b)(ii) to (iii) (Clause 6 of B17) with respect to presumptions and factors affecting division of excluded property);

• pension division amendments now in force (see 113, s.122 and s.124, Clauses 10, 15 and 16 of B17, respectively, for designation of limited member benefits, disability benefits and calculation of proportionate share of benefits). Note also a number of additional pension division amendments are soon to be in force (see Clauses 8-9, 11-12, 14, 17-19 of B17);
• how to address ownership and possession of companion animals not yet in force (see 97(4.1) to (4.3) (Clause 7(d) of B17)).

Review the entire B17 to learn more about these significant amendments.