By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Published · Updated
One year's residency in BC, one year's separation, and no separation document exists — and unmarried partners of two years or more divide property on close to the same terms as spouses.
Divorce in British Columbia sits at the intersection of federal divorce law and one of the more distinctive provincial property regimes in Canada — understanding the BC-specific pieces early makes everything that follows easier.
| Residency requirement | You or your spouse must have been habitually resident in BC for at least 1 year immediately before filing — divorce is granted under the federal Divorce Act, heard in whichever province meets this test. |
|---|---|
| Grounds | One ground — breakdown of the marriage — established one of three ways under the federal Divorce Act s.8(2): living separate and apart for 1 year or more, which is the no-fault route almost everyone uses; adultery by your spouse; or physical or mental cruelty by your spouse making continued cohabitation intolerable. The latter two are fault-based and must be proven against your spouse, so it is not accurate to call BC divorce purely no-fault. |
| Waiting period | 1 year of separation, unless you're relying on adultery or cruelty instead. You can file during the separation year, but the Divorce Order won't be issued until the full 12 months have passed. Spouses can live together up to 90 days total to try reconciling without restarting the clock. |
| Legal separation | British Columbia has no legal separation status and issues no separation document. You are separated once one spouse decides the relationship is over and acts on it, and you can be separated while still living in the same home. A separation agreement is a private contract. |
| Where you file | BC Supreme Court — the Provincial Court cannot grant divorces. File at the Supreme Court registry nearest you. |
| Filing fee | Payable when you file the Notice of Family Claim. Set by regulation and revised from time to time. A fee waiver is available if you cannot afford it. Filing fees are set by the court and change without notice: check the current schedule on the court's own website before you file, and ask about a fee waiver if the cost is a barrier. |
| Starting forms | Form F1 (Notice of Joint Family Claim) if you and your spouse apply together, or Form F3 (Notice of Family Claim) if applying alone. |
| Simplified option | Yes — an uncontested 'desk order' divorce lets you avoid a court appearance when there are no disputed issues. BC's free Online Divorce Assistant (justice.gov.bc.ca/divorce) walks joint applicants through the questions and generates the required forms. |
| If you were never married | Near parity with marriage. Unmarried partners who have lived in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years are spouses under the Family Law Act, with the same family-property rights — an equal share of property acquired during the relationship, but not of what each brought in. |
Keeping track of dates like these across a stack of letters is exactly what SortMyDivorce does — start a free trial, no card needed.
The Divorce Act (federal) ends the marriage itself and covers parenting and support if you go that route. But most of what actually gets negotiated — property, debt, and often parenting arrangements — falls under BC's Family Law Act, which applies whether or not you ever formally divorce. BC's signature feature is the excluded property model: property you brought into the relationship, gifts, inheritances, and some trust or damages awards are generally excluded from division and stay with the spouse who owned them, while only the growth in value of that excluded property during the relationship is typically shared. This is a real departure from provinces that simply divide everything acquired during the relationship — in BC, tracing what you owned before, and what it grew into, can matter more than almost anything else in the file.
Family property — what's ordinarily divided — is generally everything either spouse owns at the date of separation that isn't excluded, and is usually valued as of the date of the agreement or trial rather than the separation date itself. A letter proposing to value assets 'as of separation' is proposing something that departs from the default, worth noticing rather than assuming is standard.
BC has two courts that handle family matters, and they don't do the same things. The Provincial Court of BC can deal with parenting arrangements, child and spousal support, and protection orders under the Family Law Act — but it cannot grant a divorce and cannot divide property or debt. The Supreme Court of BC can do all of that: divorce, property division, support, and parenting, in one proceeding. Many people start in Provincial Court because it's simpler and there's no filing fee for some family applications, then find they need to move to Supreme Court later once property is on the table — or they start in Supreme Court from the outset to avoid duplicating steps.
If a letter references a 'Notice of Family Claim,' that's a Supreme Court document. If it references an 'Application About a Family Law Matter,' that's Provincial Court. Knowing which court a letter is written for tells you a lot about what's actually being asked of you, and what isn't yet on the table.
There is nothing to file. Like every Canadian province outside Quebec, British Columbia has no legal separation status, no application and no certificate. You are separated when one of you has decided the relationship is over and has started behaving accordingly — and only one of you needs to have reached that decision.
You do not have to be in different homes for it to count. Couples can be separated while continuing to share an address, provided they are no longer living as a couple. That matters in an expensive housing market where moving out immediately is often not realistic.
What people mean by getting legally separated in BC is usually a separation agreement: a written contract dealing with property, debt, support and parenting. The date of separation carries real weight here on its own account — it starts the one-year clock for a no-fault divorce, and under the Family Law Act it is the point from which property is valued and after which newly acquired property generally stops being shared. It is worth being able to evidence when it happened.
BC's Family Law Act treats unmarried couples largely the same as married spouses for property and support purposes, but only once they qualify as 'spouses' under the Act — generally, two years of living together in a marriage-like relationship, or less if they have a child together. Before that two-year mark, the excluded property and division rules mostly don't apply, and property typically stays with whoever's name is on it, subject to other legal claims. This makes the exact start date of cohabitation unusually important in BC files — it isn't a formality, it's often the line that determines whether property division rules apply at all. If a letter states or assumes a cohabitation start date, that's worth flagging rather than accepting quietly.
That means family property is presumed to be divided equally on separation — and equally importantly, excluded property is treated the same way too. What each partner brought into the relationship is generally theirs to keep; what was built during it is generally shared. A court can depart from an equal split where it would be significantly unfair, and a written agreement can displace the presumption entirely.
The practical consequence is that the two-year mark is a real threshold with real financial consequences, and couples pass it without noticing. If you have been living together approaching two years in BC and would rather set your own terms, a cohabitation agreement before the date is a cheaper conversation than the one after it.
For married couples, none of this two-year threshold applies — the Family Law Act's property provisions apply from the date of marriage, and a formal divorce also requires the marriage to have broken down, usually shown by one year of separation.
Start assembling a disclosure binder early, since BC's Family Law Act requires 'full and true' financial disclosure and delays here tend to stall everything else. Useful documents include: recent tax returns and notices of assessment, pay stubs, statements for bank, investment, RRSP/TFSA, and pension accounts, mortgage and property assessment records, and corporate financials if either spouse runs a business. Because BC excludes pre-relationship property and its documented growth, hold onto anything that shows what you owned and what it was worth before the relationship began or before cohabitation started — old account statements, a property purchase agreement, an inheritance letter. Without that paper trail, an asset that should be excluded can end up treated as ordinary family property by default.
Keep a record of every letter exchanged with the other side or their lawyer from the start. In a system built around tracing and dates — the cohabitation date, the separation date, the valuation date — the correspondence itself often becomes the evidence for when things happened and what was proposed.
1) Pin down your cohabitation and separation dates precisely, since both carry real legal weight in BC. 2) Build your disclosure binder and, separately, your excluded-property file with whatever proof of pre-relationship ownership you can find. 3) Get a general sense of whether your matter belongs in Provincial or Supreme Court — this shapes which forms and processes apply. 4) Look into BC's free Family Justice Counsellors and out-of-court options, which many BC family files use before or alongside court. 5) Track every deadline set in any letter, and confirm current procedures on the BC Provincial Court or BC Supreme Court websites, since court processes are updated from time to time.
You or your spouse must have lived in BC for at least a year, and you generally need a full year of living separate and apart (unless citing adultery or cruelty). Note that common-law partners never need a 'divorce' since they were never legally married — separation for them is handled under BC's Family Law Act, not the Divorce Act.
If you and your spouse agree on all issues (parenting, support, property), you can apply together using Form F1, which is simpler and faster. If you don't agree, or your spouse won't participate, you file alone using Form F3.
For joint, uncontested divorces, the free tool at justice.gov.bc.ca/divorce asks a series of questions and automatically generates the court forms you need, which you then print or eFile.
You'll need your marriage certificate (with an official translation if it isn't in English) and, if support is claimed, a Financial Statement (Form F8) with income and tax information from both spouses.
Submit Form F1 or F3 in person, by mail, or through eFiling via Court Services Online, and pay the filing fee (amounts change, so check the current schedule).
If you used Form F3, you must formally serve your spouse with the filed documents and file proof of service before the case can proceed.
These issues are decided separately from the divorce itself, often through a separation agreement or consent order. Under BC's Family Law Act, most property and debt acquired during the relationship is split 50/50, whether the couple was married or common-law (2+ years together).
Once the year of separation is complete and any other issues are resolved, file the remaining documents (such as the Requisition for a desk order and draft Final Order, Form F52) so a judge or registrar can grant the divorce without a hearing, or attend court if the matter is contested.
The divorce becomes final 31 days after the order is made, unless the court shortens that period. You can then request a Certificate of Divorce from the registry as proof, which you'll need to remarry or update legal documents.
Generally, property you owned before the relationship, gifts, and inheritances are excluded from division in BC — you typically keep the original asset, and only its growth in value during the relationship is usually shared. Confirm specifics with a local lawyer, since tracing rules can get technical.
Provincial Court generally handles parenting and support but not divorce or property division; Supreme Court can handle all of it, including the divorce itself. If property or debt division is involved, Supreme Court is usually where that gets resolved.
Generally after two years of living together in a marriage-like relationship, or sooner if the couple has a child together. Before that point, the Act's property division rules typically don't apply — courts generally look closely at the actual start date.
Yes, in most cases. Under BC's Family Law Act, unmarried partners who have lived together in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years are spouses for property purposes and have the same rights as married spouses. Family property acquired during the relationship is presumed to be divided equally, while property each partner brought into the relationship is generally excluded. A court can order an unequal division where equal division would be significantly unfair, and a written agreement can set different terms.
You do not apply for anything. British Columbia has no legal separation status and no separation certificate — you are separated as soon as one spouse decides the relationship is over and acts on that decision, and you can be separated while still living in the same home. What most people mean by getting legally separated is signing a separation agreement, a private written contract covering property, debt, support and parenting. The separation date matters in its own right: it starts the one-year clock for a divorce and is the date family property is valued.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For support with intimate partner violence, contact VictimLinkBC — call or text 1-800-563-0808, 24/7, in up to 150 languages. ShelterSafe (sheltersafe.ca) maps shelters across Canada. For young people, Kids Help Phone answers 24/7 at 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868.
Last reviewed August 2026. Researched and written by Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — laws, fees and forms change, so please confirm current details with the official sources above or a local family lawyer.
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