Ruling does not deem two women common law spouses under Estate Administration Act when one died
In an application seeking the entire estate, the Yukon Supreme Court said the applicant and the deceased were not common law spouses under Yukon’s Estate Administration Act, 2002, as they did not cohabit for 12 months immediately before her death.
In Estate of Salomon (Re), 2025 YKSC 69, the deceased and her previous partner had three children, including twin sons who were presently 31 years old.
The applicant and the deceased started living together in a common law relationship in 2013 or 2014. They married in 2015, separated in 2019, and obtained a divorce on Nov. 14, 2020. They then reconciled and renewed their romantic relationship in September 2020.
The applicant alleged that the deceased began living with her at her house on Jan. 27, 2021. The deceased passed away suddenly on Aug. 30, 2022, leaving no will.
The applicant applied for a declaration that she was the deceased’s common law spouse as defined in s. 1 of the Estate Administration Act (EAA) and an order awarding her the entire estate under s. 74(1) of the EAA.
One of the deceased’s twin sons opposed the application. He asserted that the applicant did not qualify as the deceased’s common law spouse under the EAA because they had lived together as a couple for less than the required 12 months.
Status as spouses
The Supreme Court of Yukon dismissed the application upon determining that the applicant and the deceased were not common law spouses as defined under the EAA.
According to the court, while they had resided together as a couple, they did not do so for 12 months or more immediately preceding the death.
The court ruled that the applicant and the deceased had a common law relationship by Dec. 31, 2021, but were not common law spouses under the EAA at the time of the death.
The court rejected the applicant’s argument that they began living together as a couple when the deceased moved in with her at the end of January 2021. The court also disagreed with the son's claim that the couple started cohabiting by the summer of 2022.
Instead, the court held that the deceased considered herself to be living in a common law relationship with the applicant by Dec. 31, 2021. The court noted that the deceased stated in her 2021 income tax return that her marital status as of that date was a common law relationship with the applicant.
The court acknowledged that the applicant and the deceased loved each other and did things together and for each other.
However, the court found that the applicant should show something more than that. Specifically, the applicant had to establish when she and the deceased considered their relationship resilient and healthy enough for them to enter into a long-term commitment.
Entitlement to estate
Even if the applicant and the deceased were common law spouses under the EAA, the court concluded that the applicant was not entitled to a portion of the estate. The court addressed the following factors in reaching its decision.
- Regarding the estate’s nature and value, the court found the estate small
- On the applicant’s circumstances, the court noted that she had modest means
- Regarding the nature and length of the relationship, while the applicant and the deceased had established the type of relationship they wanted by the time of the death, the court stressed that the common law relationship between them lasted for barely over a year
- On the intentions of the deceased, the court noted that she was extremely engaged with and committed to all her children and considered their needs very important
