Hi, My husband and I are trying to separate after being

Upon marriage breakdown, the Ontario Family Law Act provides for a process called an "equalization" of Net Family Properties. What this means is that each spouse calculates their Net Family Property (The value of all assets in their name that they own on the separation date) The spouse with the higher Net Family Property then pays the spouse with the lower Net Family Property one half of the difference.

The matrimonial home is considered special and it matters not whether one party brought it into the marriage, it will be subject to division.

There are some items that are excluded from your Net Family Property. As well, any amount which you brought into the marriage is not subject to division. So the $20K and liability of $17K will serve to reduce your Net Family Property and increase his.

All things equal, what this means is that the division won't be 50/50. There will be an equalization as discussed above and you will deduct $20K from your net family property and he will add $17K to his net family property. This will result in a higher equalization payment for you, all other things equal.

Hope this gives you a starting point.

Kindly accept so that I can be credited with the above assistance.

(P.S.: I apologize for the late reply. I had actually replied yesterday afternoon shortly after you identified that you were from Ontario, but for some reason, my response was never posted. Must have been a computer glitch. I didn't notice the outstanding question until this morning.)