In British Columbia the law governing the division of family assets between spouses is contained in the Family Relations Act. The Family Relations Act states that, subject to certain exceptions, each spouse is entitled to one half of each family asset. A separated spouse does not need to start divorce proceedings in order to resolve the issues of custody, access, spousal and child maintenance, and propertydivision, as these matters can be dealt with pursuant to the Family Relations Act. A family asset is anything of value that is owned by a husband or a wife, and is used by a family member for a family purpose.
Obvious examples are the family home, cars and furniture.
Other family assets include company pension plans, Canada Pension Plan contributions, annuities, R.R.S.P.s, and savings accounts that are ordinarily used for a family purpose. A company owned by one spouse can also be a family asset, if the other spouse contributed money or monies' worth to that company. An example of an indirect contribution is effective management of the household or child rearing responsibilities by the non-owning spouse. If a company owned by one spouse owns an asset that is clearly a family asset, such as the family home, then that company may also be considered to be a family asset. Some assets may not be family assets.