What is the triggering event for a spouse to declare that there is no prospect of reconciliation?

The necessity and significance of the triggering event was made starkly clear in Welling v. Welling, as noted above, and Johal v. Johal, [1981] B.C.J. No. 1881 (S.C.). In those decisions, prior to the triggering event, one of the spouses died, preventing the necessary declaration of no prospect of reconciliation. The result was that no right to property that might otherwise have been family assets could be found to exist.

In deVerteuil v. deVerteuil, [1981] B.C.J. No. 24 (S.C.), the court was dealing with analogous facts to this case. There, a piece of real property had been sold by a creditor bank to satisfy a debt prior to the triggering event. The court noted in paragraph 10 that property would have been a family asset at one time. After referencing decisions where the value of family assets had been determined at a date other than the triggering event, the court observed at paragraph 12: