Common Law in Alberta: What is a “Relationship of Interdependence”?

In Alberta, a common law relationship is called an Adult Interdependent Partnership (“AIP”) and it is defined by the Adult Interdependent Relationships Act (the “AIRA”).

The test for whether two people are AIPs is found in section 3 of the AIRA and is a nesting doll of cascading subsequent criteria for each portion of the test.

In most cases, to make a finding of whether two persons were AIPs, the Court will look at whether two persons

• (1) lived together;
• (2) in a relationship of interdependence;
• (3) for not less than 3 years.

A relationship of interdependence is defined in section 1(1)(f) of the AIRA as a relationship in which two persons (1) share each other’s lives; (2) are emotionally committed to one another; and (3) function as an economic and domestic unit. Each of the three components involves a holistic review of the facts in the case and each one must be fulfilled for a relationship of dependence to be found.

The Court has found that there is no one way to determine whether two persons have shared each other’s lives.

Some facts listed by the Courts which have led to a finding that two persons shared each other’s lives are that they travelled together; they are, or were, engaged to be married; they have supported each other during times of illness; they socialized together; and they used terms of endearment in public.

The emotional commitment sufficient to find that two persons are AIPs is an emotional commitment greater than concern or friendship and has to do with advancing the partnership and carrying life on as one unit. Quite often, if the Court finds that the parties shared each other’s lives, that is sufficient to find that they were also emotionally committed.

The third stage in the analysis of finding whether two persons are in a relationship of interdependence is to determine whether they function as an economic and domestic unit.

This is a very involved analysis involving 9 factors examining every part of the relationship and is found at s.1(2) of the AIRA. An important note for this definition is that the Court often relies upon outwardly obvious evidence. How parties hold themselves out to the public is an important factor in this analysis.

In some cases, it may be very easy to determine whether two persons are in a common law, or AIP relationship. However, in cases where it is less certain, the test can become very involved and opaque quite quickly.

A holistic review of all of the circumstances of the relationship will need to be reviewed to come to a determination.