Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO)
You are here
Can I get OW if I live with another adult?
Question
Can I get OW if I live with another adult?
Find services
Income Assistance - Ontario Works
Learn more about this topic
CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario / Éducation juridique communautaire Ontario)
CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario / Éducation juridique communautaire Ontario)
Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)
Was this information helpful?
Can I get OW if I live with another adult?
Reviewed:
October 31, 2016
Answer
Long delays for appeal hearings
If you're appealing a decision made by OW or ODSP in 2020, your appeal hearing may not happen for a long time. People report that they're getting hearing dates from the Social Benefits Tribunal that are between 9 and 16 months in the future. We'll update this information as things change.
If Ontario Works (OW) thinks you live with someone who is your spouse, neither one of you will be able to get financial assistance as a single person or as a sole-support parent.
Instead, OW looks at the income and assets that both of you have to decide if you can get assistance as a couple.
The amount of assistance you get as a couple is less than what you would get as two single people.
How much you get from OW depends on a number of things.
OW rules about couples
OW has rules that they use to decide whether 2 adults who live together are spouses.
If OW decides that the person you’re living with is your spouse, you can apply for assistance only as a couple.
If OW decides that the person you’re living with is your spouse, and you disagree, you may be able to appeal the decision.
If you apply for assistance as a couple, both of you have to sign all of the forms that are part of the application.
If you need help to decide whether to apply for financial assistance as a couple, contact a community legal clinic.
1. Understand the rules about living with a spouse
Your spouse can be someone of the same or opposite sex.
If you’re living with someone, Ontario Works (OW) will decide you’re spouses if any of the following are true:
- you tell them that you are
- you’re married to each other
- the law says that the other person must support you or your child
Living together for at least 3 months
OW will also decide you’re spouses if all of the following are true:
- You’ve been living together for at least 3 months. See Step 3.
- One of you supports the other or the two of you are “financially interdependent”. See Step 4.
- You’re “living together as a couple”, not as two single people. This means that your relationship is like a marriage. See Step 5.
OW can decide that the person you’re living with is your spouse, even if one of you is married to or separated from someone else.
You May Also Need
Reviewed:
October 2016
2. Learn about the questions OW asks
Ontario Works (OW) asks you questions to decide whether the person you live with is your spouse. These questions are in the Questionnaire (for Applicants or Recipients who are living with another adult). Some people call it the Co-Resident Questionnaire.
The Questionnaire has 3 parts. Steps 3 to 5 talk about each of these parts.
You won’t get financial assistance if you don’t:
- answer the questions that OW asks
- give them the information they ask for
If you need help dealing with OW, contact a community legal clinic.
Once OW makes a decision
If OW decides that the person you’re living with is your spouse, they’ll say that you have to apply for assistance as a couple.
If you disagree with their decision, you may be able to appeal.
If OW decides that the person you’re living with is not your spouse, they may follow up in the future to see if your relationship has changed.
And they will likely ask you for information about your relationship at least once a year.
You May Also Need
Government of Ontario
Reviewed:
October 2016
3. Answer questions about your relationship
Ontario Works (OW) asks the questions that are in Part 1 of the Questionnaire (for Applicants or Recipients who are living with another adult) if:
- you’ve been living with someone who is not a close family member for at least 3 months, and
- you say that the person is not your spouse.
Questions in Part 1 of the Questionnaire
In Part 1, OW asks you to choose the option that best describes your relationship with this person. You can choose:
- legally married
- marriage-like, such as common-law
- roommate
- roomer or boarder
- friend
- caregiver, if you’re not married or living common-law
Or, if you choose, “other”, you have to explain what that means.
There are also questions about:
- whether there’s a court order or agreement that says that the person you live with must support you or your child
- whether or not you have children together
Based on your answers to Part 1, OW can decide either that:
- you’re spouses, or
- they need to ask you more questions before they can decide. Steps 4 and 5 talk about these other questions.
If you disagree with the decision
If OW decides that the person you’re living with is your spouse, they’ll say that you have to apply for assistance as a couple.
If you disagree with their decision, you may be able to appeal.
You May Also Need
Government of Ontario
Reviewed:
October 2016
4. Answer the questions about financial factors
Make sure you first read Steps 1 to 3.
The questions that Ontario Works (OW) asks in Part 2 of the Questionnaire (for Applicants or Recipients who are living with another adult) are about financial factors.
Questions in Part 2 of the Questionnaire
To find out if one of you supports the other or if the two of you are what OW calls “financially interdependent”, Part 2 has questions like:
- Do you own things together?
- Do you have joint bank accounts?
- Has one of you ever included the other in a benefit plan at work or an insurance policy?
- Have you borrowed money as a couple or has one of you co-signed a loan for the other?
- Are both of your names on leases or on bills for utilities and cable or telephone services?
- Has one of you named the other as a spouse or common-law partner on an income tax return?
Sharing housing
You might have a reason to live with another person who is not your spouse.
For example, you might not be able to afford the cost of living on your own. If this is why you share housing, it’s important to keep your finances separate, for example, your bank accounts and any bills that you pay. This will help show OW that the person you share housing with is not your spouse.
Or, you might get help from the person you live with because you have a disability. This could include helping you with your finances. For example, you might have a joint bank account with them because dealing with the bank is difficult for you.
OW is supposed to look at the reasons you share housing when they decide if you’re a couple.
After you answer Part 2 of the Questionnaire
If your answers to Part 2 of the Questionnaire do not show that you have a financial relationship like that of a married couple, OW should not go on to Part 3 of the Questionnaire.
But if OW thinks that your answers suggest that your financial relationship is like that of a married couple, you’ll have to answer questions in Part 3.
Step 5 talks about these questions, which are about whether you’re living together as a couple.
You May Also Need
Government of Ontario
Reviewed:
October 2016
5. Answer questions about living together
Make sure you first read Steps 1 to 4.
In Part 3 of the Questionnaire (for Applicants or Recipients who are living with another adult), Ontario Works (OW) asks questions about whether you live together as a couple.
OW will ask the questions from Part 3 if your answers to Part 2 suggest that you have a financial relationship like that of a married couple. You should not have to answer the questions in Part 3 if your answers to Part 2 did not show this.
Questions in Part 3 of the Questionnaire
Part 3 is about whether the two of you are living together as a couple, which means that your relationship is like a marriage.
To find out about this, OW asks questions like:
- Do friends, family members, and others who know you, think you’re a couple?
- Do schools, daycare centres, doctors, or other services and organizations you deal with, know the two of you as a couple?
- If you have children from another relationship, do they treat the person you’re living with as a parent? Do your children think this person is your spouse?
Whether or not you have a sexual relationship with each other does not matter. OW is not allowed to ask about that.
If you disagree with the decision
If OW decides that the person you’re living with is your spouse, they’ll say that you have to apply for assistance as a couple.
If you disagree with their decision, you may be able to appeal.
Talk to a community legal clinic if you disagree with the OW decision. They may be able to help you appeal the decision.
You May Also Need
Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO)
Reviewed:
October 2016