Dividing the assets often a painful business

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PRO BONO

Dear Readers:

I am pleased to report that post-secondary funding for bands and tribes will not be considered taxable. The Assembly of First Nations has received a commitment from the Minister of Revenue that student allowances, tuition payments and other aspects of First Nation post-secondary funding will not be considered taxable income. You can still use the tuition tax credits to reduce the amount of taxes payable on other income or transfer it to parents or spouses who have taxable income.

Dear Tuma:

Several years ago, I had an automobile accident and hired a lawyer to sue for my injuries. It is now seven years later and I have yet to see a dime. Is it normal for it to take this long to get my money?

Painfully Waiting

Dear Painfully:

Generally speaking, a personal injury case can take a long time to settle. It is not uncommon to see cases go on for years, although seven years is getting a bit long. There are a number of factors that can easily delay or prolong a case. The first one is usually medical.

A case really cannot proceed until you have healed sufficiently from the injuries. Are you finished with your treatment or do you still need medical care? Are your injuries permanent, or will they improve with ongoing treatment?

It is not unusual to have personal injury cases go on for years and you should keep in regular contact with your lawyer. Ask for annual updates, and make sure that the lawyer has your correct address and phone number.

Dear Tuma:

My girlfriend and I parted ways in the first week of May. She gathered all of her possessions while I was at work and moved out. She received a chair and sofa from a previous relationship and while she kept the chair and ottoman, she tried to get the sofa into her apartment and the sofa would not fit through the door. She said I could have it as she was going to throw it in the garbage. (This took place in the summer of last year and she moved from her apartment to mine in February, bringing the chair and ottoman.) During the past two months through contact over the phone she voiced that she had left some cookie cutters and an apron behind and wanted them back. I complied and she never mentioned the chair and ottoman in her request for items to be returned. Do I have to give up the chair and ottoman and is there a time frame in which she could claim them or are they mine?

Sitting on Archie Bunker's Chair

Dear Sitting:

First the legal stuff. You should have a cohabitation agreement anytime you want to live together. This agreement will spell out what stuff belongs to whom and what stuff belongs to the both of you. Having stated this, I know that most folks do not have a cohabitation agreement.

In any relationship breakdown, you have to look at how to divide the stuff and whether the stuff is part of the relationship or belongs to the individual. For example, your clothes, safe to say, that these belongs to you, but what about a cabin that you inherited during the relationship. It depends on whether you used it as a family asset or not. Did you take the wife and kids every weekend or was it just a place where you went by yourself?

As for the chair, you can argue that the chair was part of the family assets. You both used it and it was divided up where you obtained it. If you go to court, there is a good chance you will get to keep the chair.

My personal advice: Give the chair back. You only lived together for four months. She was going to toss it into the garbage. It is probably not a good chair and you can buy yourself a better chair. Tell your ex-girlfriend that she has 30 days to pick up the chair or else it is toast.

Tuma

This column is not intended to provide legal advice, but rather highlight situations where you should consult with a lawyer. Questions can be sent to TumaYoung@eskasonibc.ns.ca