Can I keep the house after a separation in Ontario?

Often: in Ontario, many people keep the home after a separation. Your family lawyer handles the legal side: who is entitled to what, set out in your agreement or a court order. On the mortgage side, if you keep the home, you generally refinance or take over the mortgage to buy your spouse out, subject to qualifying alone and to lender approval. This page explains the public rules and the mortgage side only; it is not legal advice.

What Ontario's rules say about the family home

The Government of Ontario's page "Dividing property when a marriage or common law relationship ends" (updated March 2026, checked October 2026) sets out the starting points:

• Married spouses: the full value of the family home, also called the matrimonial home, is shared unless the spouses agree otherwise, even if one spouse owned the home before the marriage or received it as a gift or inheritance. A court can divide the home's value differently only in very special situations.
• The equalization payment is the payment between spouses that settles the division of property.
• Deadlines: the time limit for a court claim is six years after separation or two years after the divorce is final, whichever comes first.
• Common-law couples are not legally required to split property acquired while living together.

How these rules apply to your home, whether it is in both names or one, is a question for your family lawyer. The deadlines are one reason to speak to a family lawyer early.

Buying out your spouse, on the mortgage side

When one spouse keeps the home, the mortgage generally changes in one of two ways:

• A refinance: a new mortgage in your name, large enough to pay off the existing mortgage and pay your spouse the amount your agreement sets.
• Taking over the existing mortgage: the lender agrees to remove your spouse from the mortgage, if you qualify on your own. A takeover can avoid breaking the mortgage, but a takeover does not raise money for a buyout by itself.

Either way, the lender looks at your income alone, your credit and the home's value. The decision is subject to lender approval. With a federally regulated lender, a refinance can go up to 80% of the home's appraised value (source: OSFI, checked October 2026), and you qualify under the stress test.

Refinancing before your term ends can mean a prepayment penalty. For a fixed-rate mortgage the penalty is usually the higher of three months' interest or the interest rate differential, and your contract governs (source: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, checked October 2026). Ask your lender for a written payout statement before the buyout figure is final.

An illustrative buyout example

These figures are illustrative, not a quote. The real buyout amount comes from your agreement, which can differ from a simple half once equalization is worked out.

• Appraised value: $800,000. Mortgage balance: $400,000. Equity: $800,000 − $400,000 = $400,000.
• If the agreement sets the buyout at half the equity: $400,000 ÷ 2 = $200,000.
• New mortgage needed: $400,000 + $200,000 = $600,000, before legal costs and any penalty.
• As a share of value: $600,000 ÷ $800,000 = 75%, under the 80% ceiling. The room left under that ceiling is $640,000 − $600,000 = about $40,000 for costs and any penalty.

In many cases the harder test is not the value but the income: carrying a $600,000 mortgage on one income.

If one income does not qualify at your bank

A different lender may read your situation differently, so we compare banks, credit unions and monoline lenders, subject to lender approval. Sometimes the numbers show that selling and dividing the proceeds is the outcome that works. Selling is a legitimate answer too.

What to do next

Estimate your equity with the refinance equity tool. If a buyout is on the table, use our call-me-back form. We'll go through the mortgage side with you while your lawyer handles the agreement.