What is the effect of providing housekeeping and childcare services to a spouse in a constructive trust claim?

These circumstances are quite distinct from those before the court in Bigelow v. Bigelow, 1995 O.J. No. 2395, where the wife was successful in her constructive trust claim in relation to her husband’s pension based on unjust enrichment because of the housekeeping and childcare services she provided during a period of pre-marriage cohabitation.

These circumstances are also distinct from those before the court in Bertrand v. Bertrand, 2001 O.J. No. 4862, where the wife was successful in her constructive trust claim over one-half of the value of the pension accumulated over the pre-marital period because the wife had paid the husband’s living expenses while he completed his university degree, which allowed him to use his own earnings for his educational costs.

Similarly, these circumstances are distinct from those in Caravan v. Caravan, 2004 N.J. No. 128, where the wife, who claimed a constructive trust in her husband’s pension, had done the majority of the childcare and household chores during the period of co-habitation and marriage, and supplemented the family income with earnings of her own.