Marriage Rights
Marriage Rights
Rights and Responsibilities
If you are married, or if you have been in a common-law relationship for two years or more, you have legal rights and responsibilities about caring for children and caring for each other.
To be legally married, you must have a legal marriage ceremony (religious or civil). After that, you stay married until one partner dies or until the marriage is legally ended by a divorce. In BC, both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples can be legally married.
Common-Law Relationships
If you’re living as a couple but you’re not married, you’re in a common-law relationship. You can be a same-sex couple or an opposite-sex couple. There is nothing illegal about living in a common-law relationship while you’re still legally married to another person. No matter how long people live together in a common-law relationship, they are not married under the law. When you stop living together, the common-law relationship is over. You don’t have to do anything legal to end a common-law relationship.
Wife Assault is a Crime
All kinds of men beat women: rich men and poor men, immigrant men and Canadian men. One woman in 10 in Canada is beaten by a husband or partner.
When one person beats another person, it is a crime. The crime is called assault. It doesn’t make any difference if the people are living together. Wife assault is a crime.
If someone complains to the police, such as a neighbour, a relative, or the victim, the police will arrest the man or take the woman to a safe place. A transition house is a safe place. A woman can stay there for up to a month. It is free. For information about the transition house in your community, phone Vancouver and Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Services Society at 604-436-1025, or call the VictimLINK at 1-800-563-0808.