As I am sure is not a shocker to anyone who reads these, I like TV shows—a lot. So, I am always on the hunt for new ones.
I recently (and by recently, I mean like a year ago) came across this show called Harlem. It follows four best friends going through life. I really like shows that focus on twenty-somethings navigating female friendships with romantic relationships as the secondary theme. They always warm my heart. A couple of women going through the struggles of life, work, romantic relationships, platonic relationships, familial relationships, and just the general pitfalls of being an adult. So, I enjoy shows like Insecure, Dollface, and Girlfriends, although I really really really still hate Joan, I mean she was annoying as heck, selfish, boy-crazy, and elitist. She prioritized men that she barely knew over her female friendships. She thought she was better than everyone for reasons best known to her. She… okay, wait. Joan Clayton is not the focus of this blog. I’m just really passionate about my dislike for Joan from girlfriends.
Let’s get back to our focus. Harlem.
So anyways, I find this show online and I see that it has Meagan Good and I’m like cool. Let’s do it. Four friends. We have Camille Parks who is an Anthropology professor; Quinn Joseph who is a trust fund baby and also a fashion designer and has a complicated relationship with her mother (come to think of it, so does Camille); Angie Wilson who is a struggling upcoming actor and Tye Reynolds who is in tech.
This blog will be focused on Tye. Tye is probably the most successful in the group She created a dating app for queer individuals that became pretty successful. Tye had struggled with her sexuality when she was younger. She had married a man named Brandon. She got tired of faking it and decided to live out loud as her true self. But in the process of doing this, she sort of just abandoned Brandon. It was not even a proper breakup. She just up and left one day and in her words ‘never looked back’. Ouch.
Anyways, we don’t find out about Brandon until Tye collapses and has to be rushed to the hospital. We find out that she has fibroids which the doctor says can be taken care of with a hysterectomy. The doctor tells her to go home and discuss it with her husband. Which is problematic in and of itself but in this situation, more confusing. We (viewers and her friends) are like what husband? She’s gay! But then the doctor reveals that there is a husband that had apparently been contacted and had given permission for the surgery to happen. Brandon walks into the hospital room and Tye has to confess to her friends that this was her husband. When I tell you, my jaw was on the floor at that scene.
Brandon had come back because he had missed Tye. But Tye had misinterpreted his presence to mean that he wanted something. To be fair to Tye, I would have thought the same thing. I mean realistically, no romantic relationship could happen because Tye is a lesbian so it’s like what does Brandon want? Anyways, Tye tells him that if he leaves her alone, she’ll give him $25,000. This of course pisses Brandon off, which, again, is fair enough. If I was Brandon, I’ll be pissed too. You can’t even break up with me properly and now you think I am after your money, how dare you? I see both sides.
Anyways, Brandon is basically like if you think I’m a gold digger, let’s go, I will actually dig your gold.
So, if Brandon and Tye lived in Ontario as opposed to Harlem, what would Brandon’s claims be? Do they have merit? Let’s find out.
Divorce
This is pretty cut and dry. They have been separated for over a year so they can get divorced.
Moving on.
Equalization
Okay now, this is the big one.
In the next episode, after we find out about Brandon, we see a flashback to five years prior. Tye was working in a company where she felt under-appreciated and she was also in a relationship where her girlfriend, Melissa was asking her to move in with her. Now Melissa mentions that they had been together for a year. They do not explicitly tell us how long Tye and Brandon have been separated but from this math, it has to be at least 6 years. Melissa of course breaks up with her once she finds out about Brandon. Poor thing was so appalled that Tye could treat someone like that, so she dipped.
But why is the number of years they have been separated relevant?
There is something called a limitation period. What this means is that after a certain number of years, you are not allowed to make certain claims. For equalization, the limitation period depends on your situation. If the spouse is dead, 6 months after they die. If they are already divorced, 2 years after the divorce has been ordered and, in our situation, where no one has died or is divorced, the limitation period is 6 years from the date of separation.
Okay so they have been separated for at least 6 years from our calculations, so Brandon appears to be barred from making this claim. We know that Tye is worth exactly $2,010,176.24 which she made in the 5 years leading up to Brandon’s claim but seeing as they have been separated for at least 6 years, Brandon gets nothing.
Now, Brandon could possibly apply to the Court for an extension BUT, there needs to be a very good reason to do so. Brandon does not have one so again, nothing for him.
Spousal Support.
Now Brandon does not seem to make a claim for Spousal support. But is he even entitled to it? There is no limitation period for spousal support but there needs to be eligibility. I do not think that there is eligibility here. They have lived separately and apart for at least 6 years. From what we can see, it seems like they were only married for a short while before Tye left. No one seems to have suffered any economic advantage or disadvantage from the breakdown of the marriage. At the time that Tye left, they were probably pretty evenly matched.
If we learned nothing else from this blog, we should learn that when you are done with someone, break up with them properly so that they don’t become a nuisance later. Don’t be a Tye.
If you need any help with family law matters, contact Aprince Will Family Lawyers in Markham, Pickering, Scarborough, and Toronto. You can call us at (905) 492-7662 or email us at [email protected] to schedule a consultation.
