The applicant husband sought an equalization payment and occupation rent following a 39-month cohabitation and marriage.
The court determined several issues regarding the calculation of net family property, including the treatment of a pre-marriage deposit on the matrimonial home, a debt owed by the husband to his former spouse, notional disposition costs for the wife's condominium in China, and whether a vehicle and funds from the wife's mother were excluded gifts or loans.
The court found that an equal division of net family property would be unconscionable under s. 5(6) of the Family Law Act due to the short duration of the marriage and the disproportionate increase in the value of the wife's foreign property, which was unrelated to the marriage.
The husband's equalization payment was reduced from $93,499 to $65,500, and his claim for occupation rent was dismissed.