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However, a material change does not necessarily mean that the amount of spousal support changes or that support ends. The court must first consider the nature of the spousal support order made.

Spousal support can be needs based, or compensatory in nature. Compensatory support arises when, as a result of the roles during the marriage, one spouse has suffered economic disadvantage or has conferred an economic advantage on the other. This usually happens as a result of sacrificed career opportunities or post-separation obligations related to children. Support based on compensation is designed to provide for an equitable sharing of the economic consequences of the marriage.

Needs-based support simply means that the needs of the recipient spouse after separation are more appropriately met by the former spouse than the government. In most cases, such as MHW, support can have both a needs-based and a compensatory aspect.

Justice Smith referred to earlier case law about the effect of remarriage on a needs-based claim, saying that the “burden does not shift in its entirety at the moment of remarriage, but it begins to. The longer the subsequent marriage, the greater the obligation of the new spouse for the needs of his or her partner.”

The thorny question in MHW was of course, whether the former wife’s compensatory claim had been fulfilled at the time of the application.

In looking at the evidence, Justice Smith confirmed that the purpose of the former wife’s support payments were mainly compensatory in nature. Justice Smith then considered the parties’ respective standards of living and found that even if the former wife’s lifestyle currently exceeded her lifestyle during the marriage, without support, she would only have $22,000 annually to meet those expenses, which would then mean her lifestyle would no longer be comparable to her lifestyle during marriage. The termination of spousal support would transfer the compensatory aspect of the claim from the former husband to the former wife’s new husband.