When couples separate, one of the biggest questions is:
“Who keeps what, and how do we make things fair?”
In British Columbia, property division is guided by the Family Law Act, which says that most property and debt acquired during the relationship should be shared equally, even if it’s only in one person’s name.
But instead of physically splitting every asset 50/50, the law allows couples to balance things out with a single equalization payment, which is a one-time payout from one spouse to the other to balance out the distribution.
What Is an Equalization Payment?
An equalization payment is a financial amount that one spouse pays to the other to make sure each person leaves the relationship with a fair share of the net family property.
It’s based on a simple principle:
Rather than dividing each item, tally up the total value of all family property and debt, and equalize the difference with a single payout. It's clean, efficient, and the most common way to deal with property distributions.
Parties initially think of it as a lot of smaller bargains.
I'll keep my car, you keep yours
Let's balance the bank accounts
I'll pay you $100,000 for the house
But, when you include all the property and debt in the equalization payment calculation, it gives you each a bit more leverage and wiggle room to distribute things efficiently and strategically.
The General Approach:
List all Family Property
Subtract out any Exclusions
Specify who will keep what or if you'll sell or co-own any property
Divii will calculate the payout to equalize the overall distribution of property
Why This Approach Works
You don’t need to divide every single asset
You can make personalized decisions (e.g., one keeps the car, the other gets more in savings)
It supports cleaner, faster agreements
It’s aligned with BC Family Law and how lawyers and courts typically resolve property division
Divii handles all the heavy lifting behind the scenes and gives you full transparency into how the numbers are calculated