Can a husband claim that a separation commenced over 20 years…

Hello:

This raises two questions. First, when did separation occur, and second, what is the effect of separation.

What province you are in will answer the second question, as in many provinces the separation is not relevant in determining property division as it is not a triggering event to determine what property is to be valued. Triggering events may be filing of a formal claim for property division, a written agreement to separate, or a divorce. There may be provinces where separation is itself a trigger. I would need to know what province you reside in to be more specific.

Separation is judged on a number of different factors, not just where someone is physically sleeping. If two people continued to reside together in the same house, share meals, hold themselves out to others as still being spouses, continue to raise children together, vacation together, still have sexual relations, have joint or combined finances or property, socialize together, then these are all signs a court may rely on to conclude that the people remained together. Courts have said that as every relationship is different, not all of these factors have to be present. Some spouses for example will never combine bank accounts, others do this from day one. Some spouses sleep together, others do not. So a husband spending a couple nights a week away from the family home, not sharing a bedroom with the wife, and having mail sent elsewhere are perhaps signs of separation, but are not the only factors that a court would look at to determine the issue.