A. Justine Lyons

The appellant appealed a trial judge's order requiring him to pay his former common-law spouse $75,000 for unjust enrichment and $561 in indefinite monthly spousal support.

The appellant argued the trial judge erred in finding unjust enrichment and in awarding indefinite rather than transitional support.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no error in the trial judge's application of the test for unjust enrichment or her assessment of the respondent's contributions to the property.

The court also upheld the indefinite spousal support award as reasonable given the respondent's age, income potential, and the 17-year duration of the relationship.

This endorsement addresses the issue of costs following a trial where the applicant successfully obtained a termination of his spousal support obligation.

The applicant sought $3,500 in costs, a reduction from his initial bill, acknowledging the respondent's financial hardship.

The respondent opposed, arguing divided success, misleading financial information from the applicant, and her own financial hardship.

The court found the applicant to be the successful party, noting his reasonable offer to settle which the respondent unreasonably rejected.

Despite the respondent's hardship, the court awarded the applicant $3,500 in costs, finding the amount reasonable and consistent with principles of indemnity, proportionality, and hardship avoidance.

The applicant sought to vary a spousal support order, terminate ongoing support, and eliminate arrears following his retirement, arguing a material change in circumstances and "double recovery" issues regarding his employment pension.

The respondent opposed, citing economic hardship and the applicant's failure to apply for other pensions.

The court found a material change due to retirement, disallowed double recovery of the pension, imputed income to the respondent for intentional underemployment, and terminated spousal support effective September 1, 2019, fixing arrears at zero.

The respondent was ordered to reimburse the applicant for payments made after August 27, 2019.