---
title: "Supreme Court Rules on Unjust Enrichment in Common Law ✦ Goldwater Droit"
meta:
  "og:description": "The Supreme Court rules that common law partners in a joint family venture can claim unjust enrichment over disproportionate asset division. Quebec implications."
  "og:title": "Supreme Court Rules on Unjust Enrichment in Common Law"
  description: "The Supreme Court rules that common law partners in a joint family venture can claim unjust enrichment over disproportionate asset division. Quebec implications."
---

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# The Supreme Court Rules on Unjust Enrichment for Common Law Spouses

25 February 2011

1 min read

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The Supreme Court of Canada rules that when a domestic relationship is a "joint family venture," there is an unjust enrichment if one party is left with a disproportionate share of the jointly earned assets.

Although decided on cases that came from Ontario and British Columbia, there is every reason to believe that Quebec courts will be willing to apply these principles to unjust enrichment cases in Quebec, to provide at least some measure of equity to common law couples while we all wait for the Supreme Court judgment in Eric vs. Lola, or for the legislator to wake up and change the laws!

[Kerr v. Baranow, 2011 SCC 10 (CanLII)](http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2011/2011scc10/2011scc10.html)

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