What is the test for establishing that a spouse wishes to separate permanently?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Surrett v Butkiewicz, 2018 BCSC 2194 (CanLII):
It is often the case that one party wishes to end a marriage and the other does not. Consensus about the desirability of separation, while often achieved, is not required: Cole v. Cole, 2016 BCSC 716 at para. 30. What is necessary, instead, is proof of one spouse’s intention to separate permanently, coupled with communication by word or deed of that intention to the other spouse, whether or not the other spouse agrees. Particularly when a marriage-like relationship has been of long duration, there may be a need for “compelling evidence of finality” in the form of a “direct statement” or “overt indication of an abandoned relationship”: Thompson v. Floyd, 2001 BCCA 78 at paras. 31-32, 36.
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