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Across B.C. on Monday morning, thousands of “roommates with benefits” and shacked-up lovers will awake to find that, according to the provincial government, they were now basically married.

Under the province’s Family Law Act, which comes into force on March 18, breakups between any couple that has shared the same roof for more than two years — or has had a child together — will now carry many of the trappings of divorce, including a 50/50 division of assets and debts.

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“For young couples who live together for a couple of years and then live with somebody else for a couple of years, it’s going to be interesting to see if they’re going to start making claims,” said Georgialee Lang, a Vancouver family lawyer and arbitrator.

Nevertheless, the new act also comes with dramatic new provisions shielding pre-marriage assets from spousal claim in the event of a breakup.

“It cuts both ways; it’s good for common-law spouses to receive the status of a married partner, but if they’ve married wealthier people, they lose on the other end because the assets their partner brought into the relationship don’t count,” said Ms. Lang.