What is the effect of a plaintiff’s behaviour in seeking spousal support for a husband who is a winery owner?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Schneider v Owers, 2019 BCSC 528 (CanLII):

The respondent said that the claimant’s behaviour was analogous to the spouses’ circumstances in Daffner v. Sparkes, 2006 BCSC 1061 Aff’d 2008 BCCA 72 where the husband sought spousal support notwithstanding that he elected the lifestyle of a winery owner. The court concluded he had left a successful consulting career to adopt his lifestyle choice to run a winery business. He was a highly trained and capable individual who could return to the corporate world and making the norm income; he could choose to return to his previous employment. He was refused spousal support that forced him to return to work as a computer consultant. The court concluded that in pursuing the wine business, the husband’s career was temporarily and minimally disrupted. He was refused spousal support.

The respondent also referred to Trevison v. Hellekson, 2008 BCSC 1560 in which a husband’s claim for compensatory spousal support was dismissed because there was no evidence he had been disadvantaged by the marriage.

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