How is spousal support calculated based on compensatory, contractual or non-compensatory considerations?

Case law has established that entitlement to spousal support may be based on compensatory, contractual or non-compensatory (need) considerations: Moge, Bracklow v. Bracklow, 1999 CanLII 715 (SCC), [1999] 1 S.C.R. 420. The compensatory considerations relate to the economic advantages and disadvantages arising from the marriage and its breakdown. The claimant’s needs in non-compensatory support may require, at least in longer marriages, some consideration of the standard of living enjoyed by the parties during the marriage and by the respondent after the marriage. Many claims involve aspects of both compensatory and non-compensatory principles. It is not necessary to decide the precise basis for support, but rather to apply the relevant factors with the objective of achieving a just result in the particular case: see Chutter v. Chutter, 2008 BCCA 507 at paras. 49, 57-60.