Husband sues wife after his lone, lowball bid for family home rejected amid separation

financialpost.com:

When a couple separates, myriad financial issues inevitably arise. Chief among them is what to do with a jointly owned home. For the separated couple, continued joint ownership of the home is, almost always, unrealistic. Two options remain: one spouse can buy out the other’s interest in the home or the home can be sold.

In Ontario, and in many jurisdictions across Canada, the law is clear that one spouse cannot force a buyout of the home between the separated spouses. A buyout is only available to separated spouses if they agree since it is presumed that a joint owner of a home has a right to insist upon the sale of the home on the open market. That right is limited only if one spouse can demonstrate that the sale of the home would somehow impair unresolved claims arising from separation such as division of family property.

The issue does not end there. If the home is to be sold on the open market, can one or both spouses make an offer to purchase the home? If so, are there rules to which the separated couple must adhere?

Those issues were recently before Justice Narissa Somji of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. In the case, the couple separated in July, 2020, following which the wife continued to reside in the jointly owned home with the parties’ two children. In August 2023, the court ordered the home to be listed for sale and sold.

One month later, the home was listed for $799,000 with offers to be presented on Oct. 17. Importantly, the offer process was closed such that potential purchasers would not know the terms of other offers being made. Only one offer was received: the husband’s offer to purchase the home for $650,000. The wife rejected it since it was well below the wife’s estimate of the home’s value.

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