The Six Must Do’s Of Divorce
“We’ve decided to end our marriage… how quickly can we get a divorce?”
It’s a question often asked. The answer lies in meeting the criteria set by Canada’s Divorce Act. In all, there are six requirements – each must be satisfied for a divorce to be granted by the Court:
1. Residence
You or your spouse must have more than one year of residence in the province in which you are applying before the commencement of the proceedings.
2. One of Three Circumstances
One of three circumstances must be proven before the Court can grant a divorce.
- Adultery
- Spouses separated for more than one year.
- Mental or Physical Cruelty.
Year-plus separation is the most common of the three. The latter two grounds are rarely used due to each being difficult, time consuming and expensive to prove without an admission in a sworn affidavit filed with the Court.
3. Government-issued marriage certificate
If married in Canada, you are required to obtain and file an original copy of your government-issued marriage certificate. Is a record from the church in which you were married acceptable? Not for the Court. What if you were married overseas? You can still get divorced in Canada as long as the marriage requirements for the country in question were met.
4. Serve your spouse
You must personally serve your spouse copies of the Court documents. If you are unable to do so, the team at Coach My Case can assist with getting a Court Order for an alternative method of service such as email.
5. Corollary relief
Before a divorce can be granted, the “corollary relief” must be agreed to. This means if you have children you must have an agreement for parenting/custody and child support that is in line with the Federal Child Support Guidelines. Spousal support must also be agreed to or waived. This Agreement should be filed with the Court or the terms of agreement set out in your Divorce Judgment.
6. Divorce Judgment
If your divorce is uncontested (meaning the parties agree), both spouses will need to sign the Divorce Judgment indicating his or her consent. Also called a “desk order divorce”, it means that neither spouse has to appear before the Court for the divorce to be granted. If your spouse does not consent, you will need to have your application heard by a Justice for your divorce to be granted.
An application for divorce and fulfillment of the above six requirements can be started any time after separation, but keep in mind: a divorce cannot be processed until after being separate and apart for one year. And the processing time? That depends on your local court.
If you are getting a divorce, contact the team at Coach My Case. Our filing of divorce applications, both contested and uncontested, is second to none. Our uncontested divorce rate of $999 plus GST and disbursements* guarantees your divorce will be filed or your money back.
(*Does not include filing fees at your local courthouse or the costs of serving your spouse with documents if they refuse to pick them up at our office)
