Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act

Marginal note:Order to transfer interests or rights

• 31 (1) When a conjugal relationship breaks down, a court may, on application by a spouse or common-law partner who is a First Nation member, order that an interest or right, referred to in subparagraph (a)(i) or paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition interest or right in subsection 2(1), in or to any structure or land situated on a reserve of that First Nation be transferred to the applicant if the court is satisfied that

  • (a) the spouses or common-law partners agreed in writing to the transfer of the interest or right, the consent of both parties was free and informed and the agreement is not unconscionable, having regard to, among other things, the factors listed in section 29;

  • (b) the applicant had previously held the interest or right before the cessation of cohabitation; or

  • (c) the transfer is appropriate in the circumstances because the spouses or common-law partners hold more than one such interest or right in or to structures and lands situated on a reserve of that First Nation.

• Marginal note:Clarification

  (2) A transfer may be ordered under subsection (1)

  • (a) in the case of a First Nation that is not referred to in any of paragraphs (b) to (d), despite section 24 of the Indian Act;

  • (b) in the case of a First Nation within the meaning of subsection 2(2) of the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management Act, subject to any land code within the meaning of that subsection or First Nation law as defined in subsection 2(1) of that Act, to which the First Nation is subject;

  • (c) in the case of a First Nation that has entered into a self-government agreement to which Her Majesty in right of Canada is a party, subject to any First Nation law enacted under the agreement; or

  • (d) in the case of the Mohawks of Kanesatake, subject to any land governance code adopted, or any Kanesatake Mohawk law enacted, under the Kanesatake Interim Land Base Governance Act.