A Quebec Superior Court judge has rejected the demand for alimony from the former common-law spouse of a wealthy Quebec business man.
The former couple can't be named because of a family court publication ban.
The 35-year-old woman, who had lived with the man for 10 years and is the mother his three children, had been seeking a $50-million lump sum settlement, plus a monthly payment of $56,000.
The father is currently paying $36,000 in child support every month.
The woman's legal team argued that people in common-law relationships should receive the same treatment as people in legal marriages, once they split up.
But the court ruled that common-law couples do not have the same rights as married couples under Quebec's civil code.
If the woman in question had been legally married to the billionaire, she would have been entitled to claim much of the money that had accumulated throughout the course of their relationship.
The 66-page judgment was released Thursday morning by Quebec Superior Court judge Carole Hall�e.
Anne-France Goldwater, the woman's lawyer, said she planned to appeal the decision.
"There remains a systemic descrimination against common-law spouses in the law, and changes in the law are 30 years overdue at least," Goldwater said.
