MARITAL PROPERTY - Exempt acquisitions and deductions - Settlements

Law360 Canada ( October 26, 2018, 8:46 AM EDT) -- Appeal by the husband, Neil, and his father, Sol, from partial summary judgment granted in favour of Neil's former wife. The husband and wife married in 1996 and separated in 2009. Their two children were independent adults. At the time of marriage, Neil held shares in a company controlled by Sol. In 2007, Sol reorganized the company for estate planning purposes, resulting in Neil surrendering common shares and receiving $1.1 million in preferred shares with an interest in a family trust to benefit Sol's grandchildren. Meanwhile, Neil and his wife owned and operated successful beauty product companies worth millions. Upon separation, the companies began negotiating division of their complex financial holdings. The wife sought unequal division of net family property. The wife's ongoing requests for disclosure of Neil's holdings in Sol's company and the family trust were a matter of contention. In 2012, the parties entered a settlement agreement that was varied and incorporated into Minutes of Settlement in 2014. In 2016, the wife commenced an action against Neil and Sol alleging a breach of the disclosure requirements of the settlement agreement and seeking general and punitive damages for conspiracy to commit fraud and deceit. Neil and Sol sought summary judgment. The motion judge found instances of non-disclosure by both Neil and Sol that precluded the relief sought. The judge granted the wife partial summary judgment regarding Neil's non-disclosure of his trust interest, and the wife's lack of actual knowledge of that non-disclosure. Neil and Sol appealed....
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