Ontario family law gives the matrimonial home a distinct status that other property does not have. Broadly, a matrimonial home is a property ordinarily occupied by the spouses as their family residence at the time of separation.

Two practical consequences follow, and both surprise people.

Both married spouses generally have a right to possession. Neither has an automatic right to exclude the other, regardless of title. A court can order exclusive possession in some circumstances, but that is an order to be obtained rather than a default position. Telling a spouse to leave does not create a legal right to the house.

A matrimonial home generally cannot be sold or mortgaged by one spouse alone. Selling, mortgaging or otherwise encumbering it usually requires the other spouse's consent or a court order. This holds even where only one spouse is the registered owner.

There can also be more than one matrimonial home. A cottage or second property ordinarily used as a family residence may qualify, which catches families who assumed only the principal home was affected. Whether a specific property qualifies is a legal question for your lawyer, not a judgment to make yourself.

The matrimonial home provisions of Ontario family law apply to married spouses. Common-law partners are in a different position, and the protections described above do not apply to them in the same way.

That does not mean a common-law partner has no claim. Claims can arise through other legal routes based on contribution and the circumstances of the relationship, and a cohabitation agreement or any written arrangement between the parties may be central. But the analysis is different and it is more fact-specific.

The practical upshot: if you are common-law, do not assume you have the protections you have read about elsewhere, and do not assume you have none. This is the single most important thing to raise early with a family lawyer.

A sale that begins before these are settled tends to stall at the worst moment, usually with an offer on the table. Get them agreed in writing, through your lawyers, first.

That the home will be sold, and by whose authority. Consent from both spouses, or an order.

The list price and how it may be adjusted. Including who can agree to a reduction and on what basis. Disagreement over a price change mid-listing is the single most common point of breakdown.

How an offer gets accepted. In practice an accepted offer needs both parties behind it, and your lawyers will confirm who signs what. Decide in advance how you will handle a situation where one wants to accept and one does not.

Who pays what until closing. Mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, and any work needed to prepare the home. Also who is accountable for those payments in the final accounting.

How showings will work. Who is in the home, who is out during showings, and how access is arranged. This sounds minor and it determines whether the house shows well.

How proceeds are directed on closing. Your lawyers deal with this, and it should be documented rather than resolved on closing day. Our guide to the cost of selling a home in Ontario explains what comes off the top before anything is divided.

A house in the middle of a separation often does not present well. Half-packed rooms, furniture removed, neglected maintenance and a general sense of disruption all read to buyers, and they read as leverage. Presentation is worth more here than in an ordinary sale, not less.

Buyers and agents will guess at your circumstances. A listing that signals distress invites lower offers. Keep the reason for the sale out of the marketing, and brief anyone involved to do the same.

Deferred maintenance becomes a negotiating point. Where repairs have been put off during a difficult period, decide deliberately whether to do them or to price for them. Doing neither is the expensive option.

Both parties need somewhere to go. Two households now need housing where one did before, and that constrains both the timeline and what each of you can afford next. Work that out before you set a closing date.

Children change the sequencing, not the arithmetic. School timing, stability and the practicalities of two homes matter and they belong in the plan. They do not change what the house is worth, and conflating the two makes both decisions worse.

1. Listing before the authority to sell is settled. A sale that unwinds because consent was not in place costs money, time and credibility with buyers.

2. Agreeing a buyout value without a proper valuation. An online estimate is not a valuation, and the party on the wrong side of a bad number does not get it back.

3. Agreeing a buyout before confirming financing. If the buying party cannot qualify alone, the arrangement fails late and expensively.

4. Using the house to win the argument. Refusing a reasonable offer, or pushing for a sale at any price, to make a point in a dispute. It reliably costs both parties, because the proceeds are shared.

5. Skipping the tax conversation. The tax treatment of a property depends on its use and history, and transfers between separating spouses have their own treatment. Speak to an accountant before you agree anything, not at your next filing.

6. Letting the home deteriorate while the dispute runs. Months of deferred maintenance, an unkempt exterior and an unresolved repair all come off the price, and they come off both parties' share.