Gram and Emma met at law school.

They dated for 4 years, lived together for 3 years after that, and then got married.  They were married for 17 years and had two children, Ethel, and Julius.  Ethel was 14 when they separated, on 1 March 2019. Julius was 12. They had been married for almost 19 years.

When they married, Emma had a bank balance of $25,000, Gram owed $2,500 on a line of credit.

At the date of separation, Gram was self-employed, practicing law part-time and doing freelance writing for both legal news outlets and for a small literary magazine that he and his friend Jane founded. The magazine was surviving, but did not turn a profit. He did not receive any income from it.

Emma was a partner at a downtown law firm, where she defended doctors from malpractice suits. At the time of separation, she had made $450,000 the previous year.

Over the past five years, Gram's income fluctuated, in part because his legal work was very specialized. The result was there was not a steady stream of it, even though he was recognized as an expert in the field. In the 2018 tax year,  his taxable income was $26,400.

Gram also had a drinking problem, which sometimes affected his ability to work.  Not that he was an addict (or so he said) or drunk at work; he would just skip out from time to time during the workday and go to his favourite bar, either with some of his buddies, or just by himself.  In the five years before separation, his gross income had fluctuated between $50,000 and $150,000. Because of the write-offs he enjoyed as a self-employed person, including entertainment expenses, his net income fluctuated between $17,500 and $80,000 in the five years before separation.

Emma had an aunt who died and bequeathed her $200,000 in her will.  The aunt died two years to the day before she and Gram got married. Emma was a great athlete, and immediately bought a ski chalet in Collingwood. The chalet was purchased for $300,000, so she had a $100,000 mortgage on it at the date of marriage. Emma was the only person on title to it.

On the date of separation, the chalet was worth approximately $600,000.  The amount is an approximation because two weeks before the date of separation, Gram - who did not go to the chalet very often because he was not a skier and did not like the whole scene - decided that he would take Ethel and Julius for a ski weekend, even though he did not intend to actually ski with them.  He was just going to sit in the lodge and drink, at least for the afternoon.  Thankfully, the chalet was only about 2 kilometres from the hill, so he did not really worry about driving drunk.

The reason he was taking them - something Emma usually did - was because Emma was going on work retreat, even though both children had the Friday and Monday off, as their private schools gave the student a generous break. As she was leaving, Emma told Gram not to bother going to the chalet, as she had sold it a couple of weeks previous.

It was the first Gram had heard of it.  He only knows the approximate value because when Emma eventually disclosed her financials there was a deposit for $570,000 into one of her accounts on February 24^th 2019.

Emma was from a very wealthy family. Her mother gave her $250,000 as a downpayment on a house that she bought in 2002. She paid $500,000 for it, and was the only one on title.  At the date of separation, it was worth $1,000,000.  When the divorce was grated, on April 26^th 2022, it was worth $1.400,000 because of an unusual spike in home values in the real estate market.

Ethel is involved in competitive figure skating at a cost of about $10,000/year, for which Emma always paid.  In the summer she went to camp, for which Gram always paid, at a cost of $5,000. She also takes Mandarin classes year-round, which cost $4,000, a cost that Gram and Emma split evenly.

Her private school tuition is $30,000/year, paid by Emma.

Julius has special needs, and attends a private school that can usually meet them.  That school costs $40,000/year. Gram pays for one quarter of that amount. Julius hates organized sports, but Gram - who was a very good rugby player in high school - insists that Julius play the sport.  Julius hates it. Gram pays $5,000 a year for him to be on the team, but Julius is usually kicked off the team halfway through the season because he never plays.

At separation, Emma had investments in her own name in the amount of $2,000,000. When her mother dies (her father died several years before) she will inherit approximately $150,000,000.

She also owned one automobile - a BMW that she purchased for $60,000 in 2016.  At separation, the book value of the car was $30,000.

Emma and Gram each paid half the mortgage, which was paid in full at the end of November 2018.

Gram also paid for the day-to-day running of the household - gas, hydro, phone/internet/TV, groceries, car maintenance - some of which he was able to write-off as business expenses because he had a home office in his basement man cave.

Gram has no investments.  On separation, Gram had $1,486.34 in his chequing account. He had a credit line of $7,000, credit card debt of $10,000 and owed $68,000 in back taxes.

He owned his own car, which he had at law school when they met: a 68 red convertible Mustang, with which he tinkered constantly. He bought it from a friend of a friend just before first year law school for $2,000) (cash under the table, but fixed it up himself. A guy on the street was admiring it, and told him it was probably worth $20,000.

Gram's father was a teacher; his mother an artist.  They amassed quite an art collection, which the gave to Gram in bits and pieces. When he and Emma married, his collection was worth $40,000. His parents kept giving him more art throughout the marriage.  At separation, his collection was worth $200,000. 

Despite Emma's great wealth, there was no prenuptial agreement, although Gram always said that "I promise you: what's mine is mine, what's yours is yours."

1. Calculate NFP calculation for each partner and show who pays what to whom. Show how you have considered the relevant facts. Does Gram's promise change anything?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Grams NFP Assets Art collection 200000 1968 Mustang 20000 Total assets 220000 Debts Credit line 7000 ... View the full answer