“The applicant referred to the decision of D’Amico v. D’Amico, 2011 ONSC where the Court treated a deposit payment made by the husband before the date of marriage for the purchase of their matrimonial home as a credit to him on the date of marriage.
However, the Ontario Court of Appeal in Michalofsky v. Michalofsky (1992), 1992 CanLII 14023 (ON CA), 39 R.F.L. (3d) 356 (Ont. C.A.) confirmed that a spouse was not entitled to deduct the $17,000 she contributed before her marriage to the cost of a dwelling that became their matrimonial home after marriage. The Court affirmed the decision of Saunders J in the Divisional Court (1989) 1989 CanLII 8766 (ON SCDC), 25 R.F.L. (3d) 316 who held that the monies paid was an investment in the property that was the matrimonial home at the time of separation and as such was not deductible in calculating her net family property.
The Court in D’Amico did not appear to have been referred to this decision or the law that the payment in effect meant that the husband had an equitable interest in the matrimonial home. In addition there is an issue that need not be decided of whether the respondent wife because of the joint purchase of the matrimonial home also had an equitable interest in it to the extent of that deposit paid to the vendor/builder.
Accordingly, based on the binding decision of Michalofsky and given the circumstances of this case, the deposit funds of $18,393 paid by the applicant do not constitute property owned by him other than the matrimonial home on the date of marriage and are not to be deducted from his family property on the date of separation.”