This article will take a look at the evolution of the jurisprudence on unjustified enrichment as a viable recourse for de facto couples, who are otherwise completely deprived of any recourse to resolve the consequences of the economic inter-dependency that may have grown during their unions, to the detriment of one of the partners at the time of relationship breakdown. The union may in fact be «libre» in some abstract romantic sense, but judging by the number of women in economic distress I have received in my office over 27 years of the practice of family law in Québec, I also wonder if «libre» is not the descriptor that reflects just how terrific these unions are for men.
