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Our litigation team drafts domestic contracts built to survive court scrutiny. When a contract needs to be set aside, we bring the trial experience to prove it.
Book My 15-Minute Assessment →Marriage Contracts & Prenups | Cohabitation Agreements | FLA Part IV | Setting Aside Under s.56(4)
Under section 52 of the Family Law Act, a marriage contract can address ownership and division of property, support obligations, the right to direct the education and moral training of children, and any other matter in the settlement of the parties' affairs.
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Under Part IV of the Family Law Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.3, spouses and prospective spouses may enter into a marriage contract that governs ownership, division of property, support obligations, and other matters upon separation or death. Cohabiting partners who are not married may enter into a cohabitation agreement under section 53 of the FLA, which converts automatically into a marriage contract upon marriage. The legal requirements for enforceability are strict: each party must receive independent legal advice, provide full and frank financial disclosure, and execute the agreement voluntarily and without duress.
At Lexaltico LLP, our litigation-focused approach means every domestic contract we draft is built to survive adversarial challenge. We stress-test clauses against the case law, including the leading decision in LeVan v. LeVan, 2008 ONCA 388, where the Ontario Court of Appeal set aside a marriage contract for unconscionability. We ensure proper disclosure, voluntariness, and substantive fairness so the agreement holds up at trial.
Section 56(4) of the Family Law Act allows a court to set aside a domestic contract or any provision in it where a party failed to disclose significant assets, debts, or other liabilities existing at the time the contract was made; where a party did not understand the nature or consequences of the contract; or where the contract is otherwise in accordance with the law of contract. The court may also refuse to enforce a provision for support or a waiver of support if doing so would result in unconscionable circumstances, as outlined in section 33(4) of the FLA.
Our trial lawyers have successfully set aside marriage contracts where one party concealed business interests, real estate holdings, or offshore accounts. We also defend well-drafted contracts against spurious challenges. In Dougherty v. Dougherty and related jurisprudence, courts have emphasised that the onus falls on the party seeking to set aside the contract to demonstrate the requisite vitiating factors. We bring forensic accountants and valuation lawyers to trial to establish the true financial picture at the date of contracting.
Common-law partners in Ontario do not have the same automatic property-sharing rights as married spouses under the equalization provisions of Part I of the Family Law Act. Without a cohabitation agreement, a common-law partner seeking a share of the other's property must rely on equitable remedies such as constructive trust, resulting trust, or unjust enrichment, as established in Kerr v. Baranow, 2011 SCC 10. A well-drafted cohabitation agreement under section 53 of the FLA provides certainty and avoids costly litigation.
Lexaltico LLP drafts cohabitation agreements that address property division, support obligations, and arrangements for children. We ensure the agreement complies with the formal requirements of section 55 of the FLA, including that it be in writing, signed by both parties, and witnessed. Our agreements are designed to protect both parties while reflecting the reality of modern relationships, including blended families, business ownership, and cross-border assets. When a cohabitation agreement needs to be enforced or set aside, our trial team is ready to litigate.
Use our Child Support Calculator for an instant estimate based on Ontario law. Takes under a minute, and you can have a detailed breakdown emailed to you.
Where one party owns shares in a company with other shareholders, a domestic contract protects people who never married either of you. Marriage contracts for business owners covers what such a contract can exclude and what makes it hold.
Our lawyers offer a 15-minute initial assessment for most matters. Call, email, or book online. Do not sign anything before speaking with us.
55 University Ave, Suite 1100
Toronto, ON M5J 2H7
2 Sheppard Ave East, Suite 303, Toronto, ON M2N 5Y7
Monday to Friday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Evenings & weekends by appointment
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A lawyer replies within 24 hours on business days. Urgent? Call +1 416 333 6200, answered 24/7. Submitting this form does not create a solicitor-client relationship.
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Lexaltico LLP
How Lexaltico LLP handles personal information, under PIPEDA and Ontario law.
When you use a form on this site, email us or telephone us, we collect what you choose to send: your name, email address, telephone number and a description of the situation. Nothing on this site requires you to give more than that.
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We do not collect sensitive personal information through this website. Detailed personal and legal information is collected only after a solicitor client relationship exists, through the channels set up for that purpose.
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Under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5 you may ask what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct anything inaccurate, and withdraw consent to our use of it, subject to legal and contractual limits. We reply within thirty days or explain why we need longer.
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+1 416 333 6200
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Short, and written to be read rather than scrolled past.
This site publishes several hundred pages about Ontario law. They are written carefully, they cite statutes and cases by name, and they are reviewed. None of that makes them advice about your matter. Law is applied to facts, and we do not know yours.
The difference is practical rather than technical. A page explaining that spousal support is usually indefinite after a twenty year marriage is accurate as a general statement and may be wrong about you, because of a domestic contract you signed, a period of separation you have forgotten, or an income that is not what a tax return says it is.
Law also changes. Pages carry a review date where one is relevant. A page reviewed last year may not reflect an amendment made since, and a page about a subject currently before an appellate court may be overtaken between your reading it and your acting on it.
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We must confirm in writing that we are prepared to act. Not every matter is one we can take, and saying so early is better than taking a file we cannot properly serve.
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Information sent through a form, or by email, before a retainer is signed is not covered by solicitor client privilege. That is not a policy we chose. It follows from there being no solicitor client relationship for the privilege to attach to.
It can also create a problem for you. If you send us detailed information about a dispute and we are later approached by the other side, what you sent may affect whether we can act for either of you.
So tell us the shape of the problem and leave out the detail: the area of law, roughly when it arose, and whether anything is urgent. That is enough for us to say whether we can help. The documents come after the retainer.
Case results described anywhere on this site are real and are described accurately, and they are specific to their own facts. A settlement at three times the original offer happened because of that employer, that contract and that person’s history. It says nothing about what your matter is worth.
Client reviews are the views of the people who wrote them. We do not offer anything in return for a review, we do not write them, and we do not ask only the clients we expect to be positive.
Calculators on this site produce estimates from the figures you enter. They apply published formulas and they cannot know about the facts that most often change the answer.
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We link to statutes, regulations, court decisions and government pages because a reader should be able to check us. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for them, and a link is not an endorsement.
To the fullest extent the law permits, Lexaltico LLP is not liable for any loss arising from your use of, or reliance on, anything published on this website.
These terms are governed by the law of Ontario and the federal law of Canada that applies in Ontario. Lawyers and licensed professionals at the firm are regulated by the Law Society of Ontario, and marketing on this site is intended to comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Every limit on what this website tells you, and every thing it does not do, in one place rather than in small print at the bottom of each page.
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Everything published on this website is general information. It is not legal advice, it does not take account of the facts of any particular situation, and reading it does not create a solicitor client relationship. Do not act, or decide not to act, on anything here without speaking to a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction about your own circumstances.
These pages describe the law of Ontario, and of Alberta only where a page says so expressly. They do not describe the law of any other province, territory or country. Law that looks similar across jurisdictions frequently is not.
Each page states the law as at the review date shown on it. Legislation is amended and case law develops. A page accurate when written may no longer be.
These pages describe how a rule usually works. That is not the same as how it applies to your facts. The exceptions are where most real matters live, and a page written for a general reader cannot tell you whether you are inside a rule or inside its exception.
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Do not send confidential or sensitive information through this website or by email until we have confirmed in writing that we can act for you. Information sent before that point is not treated as confidential and may prevent us from acting for you, or for someone else, in a connected matter.
We aim to reply within one business day. Contacting us does not guarantee a reply within any particular period, does not oblige the firm to act, and does not stop, extend or satisfy any limitation period, filing date or court deadline.
Our line is answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Outside office hours calls are taken by our intake service, who record your details and pass them to the firm. A lawyer responds during the next business day, or sooner if the matter is urgent. Answering the telephone is not the same as giving legal advice, and no relationship arises from that call.
Lexaltico LLP is regulated by the Law Society of Ontario under the Law Society Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.8. All lawyers practising in Ontario through the firm are members in good standing.
Alberta matters are handled by lawyers licensed with, and in good standing with, the Law Society of Alberta. A lawyer licensed in Ontario is not thereby licensed in Alberta, and the reverse is also true.
Immigration consulting is provided by Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act, S.C. 2019, c. 29, s. 292.
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Each page and biography states which applies. Ask at the outset who will handle your matter and under which licence.
We serve clients in thirteen languages. Every page of this website is written and published in English. Where anything is provided in another language, the English version governs in the event of a difference. If you need an interpreter, tell us when you book and we will arrange one.
The complimentary 15 minute initial assessment is a brief introductory conversation. It does not include a review of your documents and does not constitute legal advice.
The firm charges a fee for substantive consultations, including in civil litigation, criminal defence and immigration matters. The firm may waive that fee at its discretion. Any fee is disclosed in advance and credited in full toward your account if you retain the firm.
Where we refer a matter to another firm, including through LexKonnect, we comply with Rule 3.6-6.1 of the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct. Any referral fee is set out in the Law Society’s standard referral agreement, signed by you before the referral proceeds, and no fee is payable to us unless and until the receiving firm has been paid for its work. You are never obliged to accept a referral and are free to retain any firm you choose. No referral arrangement affects the independent professional judgment of any lawyer at this firm.
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Reviews shown here are written by third parties and published on platforms we do not control. Each describes one person’s experience of one matter. They are not a promise, a prediction or a guarantee about any other matter.
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