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Family law and spouses SPORTS CAMP GOES MOBILE Although some children just kept slipsliding away these youngster seem loknow what they re doing as they participated In the Hilts Department or Recreation sports camp last Wednesday morning Tina McGralb Tot Lot assistant supervisor gave a short roller skating demonstration at the Georgetown Memorial Arena for those who had never been on roller skates before and then let them have their Tun Showing off their talents are left to right Bunny Meek Michael Wilde leader Kim New combe Jimmy Manning and Brace Walter- More money for downtown A The province bousing ministry has given the town a IS grant for con area studies In Acton and Georgetown The money added to another provincial grant of for studying redevelopment possibilities in the communities business Improvement areas was the maximum amount allowable under the government program Conducted simultaneously the core area study aimed at establishing planning policies in the downtown sections for the town official plan and the redevelopment study could help Halton Hills get additional funding to help revitalise and preserve the historical character and I Y SPEAK INC a regular column written by legally qualified people under the auspices of COMMUNITY EDUCATION ONTARIO By William Burnfleld A cording to the Family Law Reform Act enacted in Ontario in 1978 a spouse is a married person or anyone who has lived with a person of the opposite sex for five years continuously If a couple has lived together for a shorter time than that they are still considered spouses If their relationship Is fairly perman ent and they have had a child Is there such a thing as a common law Legal no However the Family Law Reform Act does gives common law spouses some legal rights if the couple separates For instance either party may be entitled to financial support from his or her spouse when the lonshlpcnds The spouse must apply f such support within a year of separating and must be able to prove need It Is wrong to think that a spouse In a common law relationship has the same legal rights as a spouse who is married As mentioned above there are no special rules about the equal division of family property for common low couples who stop living together Legally married spouses who separate have an tlcrighrtohalfortheir family property the things they and the children used Common law spouses do not have such a right Property Is divided cording to who paid for it whose name it Is in the Intentions of the spouses reg ownership of the prop erty and the work or other contributions which the spous es made to main tab or build the property We can see how these rules work by looking at pie George and Martha lived a CLEO publico tion- together for ten years When they split up there were two Items of property In dispute One was a fur coat and the other was the bouse they had lived in Martha had bought the coat When they split up Martha wanted the coat back however since she had given It to George intend that he keep It a Court would probably allow turn to do so George had bought the house they lived In and registered it in his name however since Martha had helped paint and maintain It for ten years a Court might award her an interest in the house or com pensation for her work The problem In both of these situations is that Martha and George are depending on the way a Judge might interpret their former intentions They would be much more certain about how their property is to be divided If they had a cohabitation agreement The Family Law Reform Act recognizes cohabitation agreements as legal con tracts Inacohabllatlonagree- ment man and woman can state how their relationship is organized how they will divide up their property is they separate and the amount of financial support one spouse will give the other Custody of children cannot be determined by a cohabitation agreement this is a matter for a Court to decide In order to be valid a cohabitation agreement must be written signed and witnessed However a Court may disregard or vary the terms of the agreement in cases when it Is very unfair to one spouse for example when one spouse is rich and the other la left on welfare Unmarried parents rights of custody and access to their children are the as those of married parents That Is a Court will decide to whom custody and access will be granted by determining what Is In the best interests of the child The Family Law Reform Act provides that every parent must support his or her child Once a Court has determined who the parent of a child are it can order either or both of them to support the child to the best of their ability The mother of a child born to com on law parents Is usually easily determined However sometimes the father of the child is not known Therefore a man who was living with a ibllda mother In a relatively perm relationship when the child was born or within 300 days before the child birth la presumed to be the father of the child unless he can prove he Is not He and the mother will both be ble for the support of the child to the best of their ability The information in this art la accurate as of June 1961 For more information oh this and other topics contact Community Legal Education Ontario m Queen St Suite 310 Toronto Ontario For legal advice contact the Halton Hills Community Legal Aid Clinic at S St in Georetown phone KelpHelp In undersea kelp forests off the shore of southern California a single giant kelp sometimes supports more than small ATTENTION CREDIT CUSTOMERS Due to the postal strike your Zellers statement maybe picked up at our Credit Office Thank you Zellers No 67 Gtown Market Place