“Persons who are married or intend to marry may agree regarding their rights and obligations during and after the marriage in a marriage contract, which is one form of domestic contract: Family Law Act, s. 52.
A domestic contract prevails over the Act unless the Act provides otherwise: s. 2(10). A number of provisions of the Family Law Act permit a court to set aside all or part of a marriage contract, two of which are relevant to this appeal.
First, in the context of an application for spousal support, s. 33(4) gives the court the power to set aside a provision in a marriage contract that waives or reduces the right to support in three enumerated situations, including where the provision results in unconscionable circumstances.
Second, s. 56(4) allows a court to set aside an entire marriage contract or any provision in it, on application. That provision states:
56(4) A court may, on application, set aside a domestic contract or a provision in it,
(a) if a party failed to disclose to the other significant assets, or significant debts or other liabilities, existing when the domestic contract was made;
(b) if a party did not understand the nature or consequences of the domestic contract; or
(c) otherwise in accordance with the law of contract.
There is no limitation period provided in the Family Law Act for setting aside all or part of a domestic contract under s. 56(4), although that section specifically contemplates a court application for such relief. There is also no limitation provided for setting aside a spousal support provision of a marriage contract under s. 33(4), but that determination is made as part of a spousal support application for which there is no limitation period, as provided in s. 16(1)(c) of the Limitations Act.
Because the Family Law Act is silent as to the limitation period that applies to an application to set aside a marriage contract or a provision in it, one must look to the Limitations Act to determine which provisions of that Act, if any, apply. In this respect, I do not share my colleague’s view that the provision establishing the limitation period for seeking equalization should be read to also apply to an application to set aside a marriage contract under s. 56(4) of the Family Law Act. The fact that the Family Law Act does not provide a limitation period for an application to set aside a marriage contract under s. 56(4) is, in my view, a clear legislative signal that the Limitations Act is to apply.
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I conclude that a proceeding under s. 56(4) of the Family Law Act comes within s. 16(1)(a) of the Limitations Act. There is no limitation period for bringing the proceeding for a declaration setting aside a marriage contract, whether as a stand-alone matter or if the proceeding also claims other family law relief. The other relief remains subject to the applicable limitation periods, including the residual discretion of a family court to grant extensions of time under s. 2(8) of the Family Law Act. In this case, those limitation periods are six years for the husband’s equalization claim, and there is no limitation period for his spousal support claim.
This result also works seamlessly within the limitation structure of the Family Law Act, because it does not add a new, shorter limitation period of two years, which would disrupt the longer time spouses have been given to resolve their affairs. It does not interfere with the philosophy of the Act, which is to give more generous time periods for separating spouses to resolve their claims for equalization and spousal support.”