Offices in Ottawa and Perth
(613) 722-1500

CONTACT US (613) 722-1500

How Do I Get A Divorce?

How Do I Get A Divorce?

By:

Posted June 5, 2018

A divorce legally ends your marriage and gives you the ability to get re-married.

The law to get a divorce is the same across Canada as it falls under the Divorce Act. While the process is not the most complicated, there is criteria that must be met and a number of steps that must be taken.

Criteria

An Ontario court can grant you a divorce if:

  • You and/or your spouse have ordinarily resided in Ontario for at least a year immediately before your divorce application; and
  • There has been a breakdown of a marriage.

Ordinary Residence

Being close to the Quebec border, we here in Ottawa have seen this question crop up several times.

To ordinarily reside somewhere is generally understood to be a place where a person regularly, normally or customarily lives in a settled routine. A sense of permanence is clear. Examples include having a home in a given province, where you work, if you have children, where they reside and go to school, and the province in which you file your taxes.

Breakdown of a Marriage

Spouses can establish a breakdown in the marriage if:

  • They have been living separate and apart for at least one year immediately preceding your divorce application;
  • A spouse has committed adultery since the marriage; or
  • A spouse has treated the other spouse with physical or mental cruelty of such a kind as to make it intolerable to continue living together as spouses.

Obtaining a divorce based on adultery or physical or mental cruelty is quite difficult. Most spouses will wait the one year to get their divorce.

Process

Either spouse can decide to start the divorce process and it can be done solely by one party, or jointly. Most commonly, parties already have a Separation Agreement in place, which will have already settled all of the issues resulting from the separation, and will also often say who’s responsible for the divorce process.

How long does it take? A few months. The Divorce Application is served on the other spouse and they typically have 30 days to respond to the divorce. If you have already settled everything via Separation Agreement or Court, then there will be no need for the served spouse to respond. There are a few more administrative steps, but once you receive your Divorce Order, your divorce is effective 30 days from the date of the Order. The Certificate of Divorce is the final document. This is the document you will need if you wish to remarry.

If you need assistance with obtaining a divorce, or in the steps leading up to a divorce, please don’t hesitate to contact our family law department.

This blog post was written by Olivia Koneval, a member of the Family Law team.  She can be reached at 613-369-0367 or at olivia.koneval@mannlawyers.com.

More Resources

Blog |
Employment, Labour, and Human Rights, Commercial Litigation

By: 

Posted May 23, 2023

Both in my commercial and employment litigation practice, I encounter Ontario business owners faced with serious charges laid against them under the Provincial Offences Act[...]
Blog |
Family Law

By: 

Posted May 18, 2023

The recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in Anderson v. Anderson, 2023 SCC 13, provides guidance on domestic contracts and the enforceability of an informal[...]
Blog |
Environmental Law

By: 

Posted May 16, 2023

When many people think of contaminated sites, they think of the usual suspects such as industrial properties and gas stations.  They may not think of[...]
Blog |
Business Law

By: 

Posted May 9, 2023

Often business owners reach a point where they are considering the sale of their business either through the sale of shares or the sale of[...]
Blog |
Family Law

By: 

Posted May 2, 2023

Overview of Tort Claims in Family Matters Tort claims can be made in family law matters, so as to prevent a multiplicity of proceedings and[...]
Blog |
Employment, Labour, and Human Rights

By: 

Posted April 25, 2023

In a case that recently was decided from the Court of Appeal of Ontario called Celestini v Shoplogix Inc., 2023 ONCA 131, the Court had[...]

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
Consent*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.