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Abstract

In March 2013, British Columbia’s Family Law Act extended equal-division property rights to common-law partners after two years of cohabitation. Using Statistics Canada’s Longitudinal Administrative Databank (2006–2019) and event-study difference-in-differences with Ontario and a propensity-score–matched control, I focus on couples already positioned to be covered (“Pre-CLPs”). Women in Pre-CLPs experience short-run declines in employment income after 2013, with minimal pre-trends in the benchmark specification; men’s estimates are small and rarely significant. Effects are not stronger for mothers of young children, consistent with large pre-existing childcare-related earnings penalties. On relationship margins, entries into CLP and marriage show short-lived post-2013 bulges amid upward pre-trends—consistent with awareness/reclassification rather than durable formation changes. I find no systematic evidence of strategic avoidance of the two-year threshold. Overall, aligning CLP and marital property rights appears to reallocate women’s time away from market work within ongoing unions, with muted effects on men and relationship survival.