Holy shit I feel like I'm gonna die tomorrow!!
I'm going in with my partner to get a declaration of common law partnership notarized, and it's been really scary realizing that a ~5+ year long relationship can be condensed down to virtually nothing. I don't have a ton of evidence for the relationship bc I was, like, living it. I didn't know I needed to document every little thing, and now that we're here I'm worried what precious little I DO have won't be enough.
I have a lot of evidence that we've lived together, but that we love each other? That we want a future together? We lived through the first year of Covid together and haven't been able to cohabit since because of her education and a general rent crisis in Atlantic Canada (and elsewhere). I have photos on my phone! Walls of texts! Mail from each others' parents to us! Hell, I even have a wedding invite from a friend of ours to both of us jointly! But in terms of the stuff that the federal govt. thinks is legitimate evidence? idk! We don't own property together because we barely own anything. We use different banks, so we haven't ever made a joint account (and now it feels too late/like it'd be disingenuous if we did it the day of the notarization) and the other thing that they list as, like, the best evidence is life insurance plans, which neither of us have afaik.
Like, we're both in our 20's. We both just went to uni. She's still going! I'm worried I'll be deported/have to leave the country next year! I feel like we're running out of time, and like having to prove that this is a real, committed relationship to a federal entity is going to break me! And like, why do I have to bend over backward to do all of this to prove that our relationship is legitimate? If we were married would I have to prove any of this? Marriage scares the shit out of me, but that might be easier than this! Aaaaaaa!!!
