Court File and Parties
Court File No.: FC-18-257 Date: 2020/04/03 Superior Court of Justice – Ontario
Re: Hissan Hamad, Applicant And: Noor Al-Rewashdy, Respondent
Before: J. Mackinnon J.
Counsel: Diana Aoun for the Applicant Kateri Caron-Seguin for the Respondent
Heard: April 3, 2020
Endorsement
[1] The request is for leave to bring an urgent ex parte motion for a certificate of pending litigation.
[2] The facts are very briefly stated. The parties were married and are now divorced. On January 15, 2020 corollary issues in the case were severed and a divorce order was granted.
[3] The sole owner of the former matrimonial home has recently listed it for sale. The non-owner is the moving party before me. He says the home cannot be listed or sold without his consent and seeks a CPL to protect his interest, which is to an equalization of net family property.
[4] As it applies to this case, section 18(1) of the Family Law Act defines matrimonial home as a property that was ordinarily occupied by spouses at the time of their separation as their family residence. “Spouse” is also defined in the FLA and means two persons who are married to each other: see section 1(1).
[5] The spousal rights the moving party relies on to prevent the sale of the home are found in section 21; they are clearly spousal rights and do not extend to a former spouse.
[6] Provided the sole owner of the former matrimonial home is not a spouse at the date of the transaction section 21 does not require the consent of the owner's former spouse to the transaction.
[7] The law is also well established that a claim for an equalization of net family property does not call into question an interest in land and accordingly does not entitle the claimant to a CPL.
[8] For these reasons, the request for an urgent motion is dismissed as without merit.
Dated at Ottawa this 3rd April 2020 Justice J Mackinnon (this is my electronic signature)