Trust is a vital part of a healthy relationship, and marriage means a willingness to openly share the good, along with the bad. Addiction is one of the most challenging issues to face in a marriage, and in a divorce, and gambling addiction can have far reaching and long lasting consequences both financially and emotionally. You may be perfectly fine with your spouse placing the occasion bet at work in a hockey pool or spending time at a casino every so often to play some poker. But at some point, gambling can turn from harmless fun into a serious problem in your relationship.
Because marriage creates a joint financial venture, one spouse’s gambling addiction can turn into both spouses’ financial problem. Gambling addiction can lead the addicted party to lie to their spouse about how much they are spending, increasing joint debts, making large withdrawals from joint bank accounts, or taking out significant loans without their spouse’s knowledge.
If a spouse has increased a joint debt, regardless of whether they did so without the other party’s knowledge, both parties could be responsible for payment of that debt. In the context of divorce, gambling addiction can have a significant impact on the division of property and equalization. Even if the gambling addicted spouse hasn’t increased any joint debts but has incurred debt in his or her own name during the marriage which remain outstanding at the time of separation, that can potentially impact the equalization payment and division of property leaving their spouse with less than he or she may be entitled to receive. Given the fact that equalization is determined based on what the parties’ assets and liabilities are at the time of separation, if liabilities have substantially increased, and assets have substantially decreased due to the behaviour discussed above, then simply put, there is much less to “equalize” or “divide” in terms of assets- meaning both parties likely end up with less than they otherwise would have.
Given the unfairness of these circumstances, you may be wondering whether there is some way to address situations like this in the context of Ontario family law to protect innocent parties from financial ruin. The short answer is: it depends. There is a legal argument available under Section 5 of the Family Law Act which does allow the courts to order an unequal division of Net Family Property if the standard equalization of Net Family Property would produce a result that is “unconscionable”. The difficulty with this is that the threshold for what is “unconscionable” is a very high one- it means that the result is not simply unfair, but that it must be such that it would “shock the conscience of the court”. These cases also tend to be highly fact driven, and require significant factual evidence of the claim. With that having been said, if you find yourself in these circumstances, you should ask your qualified divorce lawyer about whether you can make an unequal division claim based on your spouse’s gambling addiction.
This blog post is not legal advice and was written for general information purposes only. Consult with a legal professional at Kain & Ball to find out about your rights and responsibilities specific to your circumstances. The above information is NOT legal advice of any kind, and you should be sure to speak to a qualified family law lawyer about your specific situation.
For more information, call us at 905-273-4588 or email us at contact@kainfamilylaw.com to book a free 30-minute consultation with one of our experienced family law lawyers at Kain & Ball Family Law.