Common-Law Relationships in Manitoba: Rights and Property

In Manitoba, whether you qualify as a common-law partner depends on which law is asking: property rights, spousal support, and inheritance each use a different test, and registering your relationship with Vital Statistics can grant full status immediately, though it comes with a much shorter deadline to claim property after a breakup.

Information last verified on 2026-08-15. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Manitoba Doesn't Have One "Common-Law" Test. It Has Three

Most people expect a single, clean rule: live together for a certain number of years and you become common-law. Manitoba does not work that way. The province's family law is split across three separate statutes, and each one defines "common-law partner" on its own terms. A couple can qualify under one Act and not another, and getting this wrong is the single most common source of confusion for Manitoba couples trying to figure out where they stand. For how this compares across the country, see our overview of common-law relationships across Canada.

Property: The Family Property Act

The statute that governs property division is The Family Property Act, C.C.S.M. c. F25 (FPA). It is sometimes still called by an older informal name, "The Common-Law Partners' Property Act," in secondary sources, but that was the short title of the 2002 amending bill that added common-law partners to the Act, not the Act's current consolidated name. The Act itself is titled simply The Family Property Act.

Section 1 defines a "common-law partner" for property purposes as either of two people who are not married to each other and who:

• Have cohabited in a conjugal relationship for a period of at least three years, or
• Together have registered a common-law relationship under section 13.1 of The Vital Statistics Act.

There is no shortcut for couples with a child together. Unlike the other two acts below, the property test is a flat three years, or registration, with nothing in between.

Spousal Support: The Family Law Act

Manitoba's support and parenting statute was substantially replaced in 2023. The old Family Maintenance Act is gone, superseded by The Family Law Act, C.C.S.M. c. F20, in force since July 1, 2023. Its section 1 definition of "common-law partner" is broader than the property test:

• Cohabited in a conjugal relationship for at least three years, or
• Cohabited for at least one year if the couple are together the parents of a child, or
• Together registered a common-law relationship under The Vital Statistics Act.

Section 63 then extends the word "spouse," for support purposes, to include anyone who meets this common-law-partner definition.

Inheritance: The Intestate Succession Act

The Intestate Succession Act, C.C.S.M. c. I85, uses the same test as the Family Law Act: three years of cohabitation, or one year with a child together, or registration. So for the purpose of dying without a will, Manitoba's threshold matches the support threshold, not the stricter property threshold.

The result is an asymmetric pattern: property is the strictest test in Manitoba, with no child-together shortcut, while support and inheritance both give couples with a shared child a faster path to qualifying.

Registering Your Relationship: Manitoba's Unique Opt-In

The most distinctive thing about Manitoba's common-law law is that couples do not have to wait out a cohabitation period at all if they do not want to. Under section 13.1 of The Vital Statistics Act, a couple can register their common-law relationship with the government. According to Manitoba's own practical guidance page, once registered, "all the major property laws immediately apply to the couple in the same way they apply to married couples," with no minimum cohabitation period required first.

Registration is the closest thing in this survey to an opt-in, marriage-equivalent status: it applies immediately across property, support, and inheritance, since all three acts recognize a registered relationship as satisfying their respective tests.

But registering also changes the deadline you get if the relationship ends. A couple that registers and later registers a dissolution of that relationship has only 60 days from the date the dissolution is registered to apply for an accounting and equalization of assets. A couple that never registers, and simply separates, has three years from the date they began living separate and apart to make the same application. The court can extend either deadline for reasonable cause, but the registered deadline is dramatically shorter as a starting point. Registering trades a long runway for immediate certainty of status, and that is a real trade-off, not a pure upgrade.

Manitoba's guidance also indicates that registering a dissolution itself requires the couple to have already lived apart for at least a year first, though that specific precondition comes from the government's practical guidance page rather than an independently confirmed read of the Vital Statistics Act's own text, so treat it as a strong indication rather than a word-for-word statute quote. An unregistered relationship simply ends when the couple has lived separate and apart for three years.

No separate cohabitation agreement category distinct from a married couple's domestic contract exists in Manitoba. Registration functions as the practical substitute for that kind of formal-status tool, though a couple that does not want to register can still use a private cohabitation agreement, similar to those discussed in our guide to separation agreements in Canada, to set their own terms.

Property Division If You Qualify

Once a couple meets the Family Property Act's test, either by three years of cohabitation or by registering, section 2.1(1) applies the Act to them on the same jurisdictional terms as married spouses. The mechanism is an accounting and equalization of assets regime, language the Act uses throughout its enforcement and limitation provisions. Structurally, that puts Manitoba closer to Ontario's equalization-of-net-family-property model than to a direct 50/50 co-ownership approach.

The exact distribution formula, including any exemptions or an unequal-division test, involves detail beyond what this article confirms against the Act's full text; a Manitoba family law lawyer can walk through how the calculation applies to your specific assets. What is confirmed is the limitation period described above: 60 days after a registered dissolution is registered, or three years after separation for an unregistered relationship, with the court able to extend either deadline for reasonable cause.

Spousal Support

Under section 63 of the Family Law Act, a qualifying common-law partner (three years cohabiting, one year with a child together, or registered) is treated as a "spouse" for support purposes. Section 69 allows a court, on application, to order one spouse or common-law partner to support the other. Section 70 lists factors the court weighs in setting entitlement and amount, including the duration of the relationship, the functions each partner performed while living together, each partner's financial means and earning capacity, the household's standard of living, and each partner's financial needs, among other factors the court considers. For a broader look at how support works across Canada, see our guide to spousal support in Canada.

Dying Without a Will

Manitoba's Intestate Succession Act treats "spouse or common-law partner" as a single combined category throughout its distribution rules, so a qualifying common-law partner does not get a separate, lesser scheme:

• No issue: the entire estate goes to the surviving spouse or common-law partner.
• Issue, and all of them are also the survivor's: the entire estate still goes to the survivor.
• Issue, and some are not the survivor's: the survivor gets $50,000, or one-half of the estate, whichever is greater, off the top, plus one-half of whatever remains.

That $50,000 preferential share is notably lower than the figures found in some neighboring provinces, and the Act's own consolidation banner shows this specific provision current from 2004, meaning it does not appear to have been increased since Manitoba's early-2000s reforms. Treat the $50,000 figure as accurate as verified, but be aware it has likely sat unchanged for two decades.

Two further mechanics are specific to Manitoba:

• Priority between a spouse and a common-law partner: if someone dies leaving both a legal spouse and one or more common-law partners, the Act applies as though the most recently formed relationship were the only one, while still protecting an earlier partner's already-vested Family Property Act claim.
• Disqualification: a separated spouse or common-law partner is treated as predeceased, and gets nothing under intestacy, if at death they had already applied for divorce or property division, had already divided their property in a way that recognized the relationship had ended, or, for common-law partners specifically, had already passed the relevant termination trigger (a registered dissolution, or three years separated if never registered).

For how intestacy works more broadly across the country, see dying without a will in Canada, and for how to avoid relying on these default rules at all, see making a will in Canada.

Federal Programs Use Their Own Rules

Federal programs do not follow Manitoba's provincial tests. The Canada Revenue Agency generally treats a couple as common-law for tax and benefit purposes after 12 months of continuous cohabitation, or sooner with a shared child, and CPP survivor benefits have their own federal definition. Neither one determines whether Manitoba's Family Property Act, Family Law Act, or Intestate Succession Act applies to you.

Manitoba Common-Law Rights at a Glance

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Manitoba family law and is not legal advice. Several details in this article carry real limits worth restating plainly: the Family Property Act's full distribution formula, including any exemptions or unequal-division rules, was not confirmed section by section against the Act's complete text; the Family Law Act's full list of spousal-support factors may extend beyond what is summarized here; and the Vital Statistics Act's own registration and dissolution provisions were confirmed through how the three other acts and Manitoba's government guidance describe them, not by an independent read of the Vital Statistics Act's own text. Common-law status and its consequences depend on the specific facts of each relationship. Consult a licensed Manitoba family law lawyer about your situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do you have to live together to be common-law in Manitoba?

It depends which law is asking. For property division, you need 3 years of cohabitation, or you can register your relationship instead. For spousal support and for inheritance if a partner dies without a will, the threshold is 3 years, or just 1 year if you and your partner have a child together, or registration.

What does registering a common-law relationship in Manitoba actually do?

Registering with Vital Statistics under section 13.1 makes both partners common-law partners immediately, with no waiting period, for property, support, and inheritance purposes. The trade-off is that if the relationship later ends, a registered couple has only 60 days after the dissolution is registered to apply for a division of property, compared to 3 years for a couple that never registered.

Do common-law partners split property equally in Manitoba?

Only if they qualify under the Family Property Act, either by 3 years of cohabitation or by registering. Qualifying partners get access to an accounting and equalization of assets regime similar in structure to what married spouses get, rather than having to sue for unjust enrichment. The exact formula for calculating each partner's share involves detail a family law lawyer should walk through for your specific situation.

What happens if my common-law partner dies without a will in Manitoba?

If you qualify as a common-law partner under the Intestate Succession Act's test, you are treated the same as a legal spouse. If there is no issue, or the deceased's children are also yours, you inherit the entire estate. If there are children from outside the relationship, you get $50,000 or half the estate, whichever is greater, plus half of what remains.

Is Manitoba's common-law property law still called The Common-Law Partners' Property Act?

No. That was the short title of the 2002 bill that added common-law partners to the Act. The Act's current consolidated name is simply The Family Property Act, C.C.S.M. c. F25.

What if my common-law partner had already applied for divorce or divided property with someone else before they died?

Manitoba's Intestate Succession Act disqualifies a separated spouse or common-law partner from inheriting, treating them as predeceased, if before death they had already applied for divorce or property division, already divided their property recognizing the relationship had ended, or, for common-law partners, already passed the relevant termination trigger such as a registered dissolution or three years separated.