"Whatever Happened to Exempt Property?" An Overview of the Matrimonial Property Act of Nova Scotia

As it is five years since the introduction of the Matrimonial Property Act, it may be appropriate before turning to the title of my paper to outline the general philosophy of the Act. The philosophy is to allow either spouse to apply to the court on the occurrence of one of the four triggering events (death, divorce, nullity or separation) to seek an equal division of the matrimonial assets. Where a merely equal division of matrimonial assets would be unfair or unconscionable a court may divide the matrimonial assets up unequally or have recourse to the exempt property.