What is the test for determining need in a long-term relationship?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from McIntyre v. Winter, 2020 ONSC 4376 (CanLII):

In determining need, courts ought to be guided in part by the principle that the spouse receiving support is entitled to maintain the standard of living to which he or she was accustomed to at the time cohabitation ceased. The analysis must consider the recipient’s ability to support him or herself, in light of his or her income and reasonable expenses. Gray v. Gray, 2014 ONCA 659.

Where a spouse maintains a similar standard of living to that he enjoyed before separation, there is no basis for a needs-based, non-compensatory claim for support. Lamothe v. Lamothe, 2006 CanLII 42360.

Non-compensatory support may arise from the mere fact that a person who formerly enjoyed inter-spousal entitlement to support now finds herself or himself without it. A party’s accustomed standard of living during a relationship is an appropriate part of context upon which need should be based. Blackstock v. Comeau, 2018 ONSC 193.

The word “need” is not limited to one’s basic needs. It can be interpreted to cover situations where a spouse suffers a significant decline in the standard of living, he or she enjoyed during the relationship. Nixon v. Lumsden, 2020 ONSC 147. Is Ron Disabled?

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