By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Published · Updated
One full year in the province or territory where you file, and a year of separation before a separation-based divorce is finalized. Most provinces have no legal separation status — Québec is the exception.
Divorce itself is governed by one federal law across Canada, but almost everything you'll actually negotiate — property, and often the process itself — is decided by the province you live in.
| Residency requirement | You or your spouse must have lived in the province or territory where you file for at least one full year immediately before applying (set by the federal Divorce Act; applies uniformly across Canada). |
|---|---|
| Grounds | One ground — breakdown of the marriage — but it is not accurate to call Canadian divorce purely no-fault. Divorce Act s.8(2) establishes breakdown three ways: living separate and apart for at least one year, which is the no-fault route almost everyone uses; adultery; or physical or mental cruelty. The latter two are fault-based and require proving your spouse's conduct. |
| Waiting period | At least 1 year of separation before a court will finalize a separation-based divorce (spouses may live together again for up to 90 days to try reconciliation without resetting the clock). Adultery/cruelty grounds skip this wait but require proof. Once granted, a divorce takes legal effect 31 days later. |
| Legal separation | Most provinces and territories have no legal separation status — you are separated as a matter of fact, not by court order, once one spouse decides the relationship is over and acts on it. No filing, no certificate. There are exceptions: Quebec has separation from bed and board (séparation de corps) under the Civil Code; Saskatchewan retains a judgment of judicial separation under Part 14 of The King's Bench Act; and in Manitoba a spouse can ask the Court of King's Bench for an order of separation (non-cohabitation) under The Family Law Act. None of these is a required step before divorcing, and none of them ends the marriage. One year of living separate and apart remains the usual ground for divorce nationwide under the federal Divorce Act. |
| If you were never married | This is entirely provincial and the answers are opposite at some borders. BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta give unmarried partners property division; Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland largely do not; Quebec added the parental union regime for de facto parents on 30 June 2025. |
| Where you file | The provincial or territorial superior court in the province/territory where you or your spouse have lived for the past year. Exact court name and filing process vary by province/territory since they administer their own courts under the federal Divorce Act. |
| Filing fee | Set independently by each province/territory, not by federal law — confirm the current fee with your provincial/territorial court clerk. 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 | Varies by province/territory (for example, Ontario uses Form 8A, Application (Divorce)). Check your provincial or territorial court's family law forms page for the exact form required where you're filing. |
| Simplified option | Yes — a joint application (both spouses apply together as applicant and joint applicant) is available when you agree on the divorce and related issues; no formal service on your spouse is required. Several provinces also offer self-help uncontested/joint divorce kits. |
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 is a federal statute, so the legal ground for divorce, the rules on parenting arrangements, and the framework for child and spousal support are the same whether you're filing in Vancouver, Winnipeg, or Halifax. What is not the same is property division. Each province and territory has its own family property legislation — Ontario's net family property equalization, British Columbia's excluded property model, Quebec's civil-law family patrimony, and so on — and these regimes can produce very different outcomes from the same set of facts.
This split matters practically. A general search for 'divorce law in Canada' will tell you about grounds, support, and parenting — the federal layer. It will not tell you how your house, pension, or business gets divided; for that you need the rules of your specific province. If you haven't already, it's worth reading the preparation guide for your own province alongside this one, since that's where the concrete numbers live.
Divorce applications themselves are filed in the superior court of the province where at least one spouse has habitually resided for the year before filing — the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, the Supreme Court in BC, the Court of King's Bench in several Prairie provinces, and similarly named courts elsewhere. A Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings exists federally so the same divorce isn't started twice in different provinces.
Under the Divorce Act, the ground for divorce is the breakdown of the marriage, and in practice that's shown almost always by having lived separate and apart for one year. You don't need to wait the full year before filing — you can start the application once you've separated and the divorce is typically finalized once the year has passed — and you don't need your spouse's agreement or a formal separation agreement to rely on this ground, though having one helps enormously with everything else.
Adultery and cruelty exist as alternative grounds that don't require the one-year wait, but they require proving fault in court, which is expensive, slow, and rarely worth it compared to simply using the separation period. The overwhelming majority of Canadian divorces proceed on the no-fault, one-year basis.
Separating doesn't require moving out. Living separate and apart under the same roof is recognized across Canada, provided the couple can show the relationship functioned as ended — separate finances, separate routines, no longer presenting as a couple. If this applies to you, documentation of when and how the separation began becomes especially important.
Child support follows the Federal Child Support Guidelines everywhere in Canada, calculated primarily from the paying parent's income and the number of children, with adjustments for shared parenting time and special expenses. Spousal support doesn't have a binding formula, but the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines are used informally by lawyers and courts nationwide to bracket a reasonable range based on income difference and length of marriage.
Property is the opposite story. There is no national formula for who keeps the house, the pension, or the business — that's entirely a matter of provincial law, and the differences are substantial. Some provinces value property as of the separation date, others exclude specific assets like inheritances or pre-relationship property, and Quebec's civil-law approach differs in structure from the common-law provinces entirely. This is the single biggest reason 'general Canadian divorce advice' can mislead people about their own numbers.
Divorce is federal and identical everywhere in Canada; separation is not, and the difference trips people up. In most provinces and territories there is no legal separation status at all — nothing to apply for, no court process, no document that makes you separated. You are separated once one spouse has decided the relationship is over and begun acting on it. There are exceptions: Quebec has separation from bed and board (séparation de corps), Saskatchewan retains a judgment of judicial separation under Part 14 of The King's Bench Act, and Manitoba's Court of King's Bench can make an order of separation (non-cohabitation). None of them is a required step before divorcing, and none ends the marriage.
Quebec is the exception. As a civil law jurisdiction it has séparation de corps — separation from bed and board — a Superior Court judgment that ends the duty to live together and settles custody, support and property, while leaving the marriage in place.
What is uniform is what the separation date does. One year of living separate and apart is the ground almost every Canadian divorce is granted on, under the federal Divorce Act, and in most provinces the separation date is also when family property is valued. You can be separate and apart under the same roof. Being able to evidence the date is worth more than most people expect.
Nothing on this site varies more by province than this. Divorce is federal and works the same everywhere; property rights for unmarried couples are provincial, and neighbouring provinces give opposite answers to the same question.
Broadly, four provinces bring unmarried partners inside the statutory property regime once they qualify: British Columbia at two years, Saskatchewan at two, Manitoba at three or immediately on registering, and Alberta for adult interdependent partners since 2020. Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador largely do not — there, an unmarried partner keeps what is in their own name and any further claim rests on unjust enrichment or on whatever the couple agreed in writing.
Quebec was the strictest of all and has partly changed. De facto spouses still have no family patrimony rights as such, but since 30 June 2025 the parental union regime applies automatically to de facto spouses who have or adopt a child on or after that date. Wherever you are, check your own province's page rather than assuming — the differences are large and not intuitive.
1) Confirm your separation date and, if possible, get it in writing somewhere — a text, an email, a note — since so much else (the one-year clock, and in many provinces the property valuation date) runs from it. 2) Start gathering three years of tax documents, pay records, and statements for every bank, investment, and pension account, since disclosure obligations are demanding across every province. 3) Read your own province's preparation page for the property and process specifics that this overview can't cover. 4) Get at least one consultation with a family lawyer licensed in your province early — provincial rules on process and disclosure forms vary enough that general knowledge isn't a substitute for local advice. 5) From the first letter either side sends, keep a record of dates, deadlines, and what was actually proposed — this becomes the backbone of any negotiation, mediation, or court step that follows.
You must be legally married, and you or your spouse must have lived in the province or territory where you plan to file for a full year immediately before applying. Common-law partners aren't eligible for a Divorce Act divorce — separation is handled under provincial family law instead.
Most people apply based on one year of separation, the simplest and most common ground. Adultery or physical/mental cruelty let you apply without waiting a year, but you'll need to prove it, which usually adds cost and time.
If you and your spouse agree on the divorce and related issues, you can file a joint application together and skip formal service. If you're applying alone, you'll be the applicant and must formally serve your spouse (the respondent) with the paperwork afterward.
The Divorce Act sets the grounds and residency rule nationally, but each province and territory runs its own courts and forms — for example, Ontario uses Form 8A. Get the current forms from your provincial/territorial Ministry of Justice or Attorney General website, or the courthouse.
A judge won't grant the divorce until satisfied that reasonable child support arrangements are in place, so settle parenting time, decision-making responsibility, and child (and any spousal) support before or during filing.
File your completed application, and any separation agreement, with the superior court in the province or territory where you meet the residency requirement. Pay the filing fee set by that court — amounts vary by province, so confirm the current fee with the court clerk.
If you filed alone, arrange to have your spouse formally served with the application and allow the required response period to pass before the matter can proceed.
Depending on your court's process, this may include filing an affidavit for divorce or a requisition for judgment, especially if the application is uncontested. A judge then reviews the file and grants the divorce.
The divorce becomes legally effective 31 days after it's granted. After that, you can request an official Divorce Certificate from the court that granted it.
The Divorce Act — grounds for divorce, support guidelines, and parenting rules — applies federally. Property division does not; it's set by each province's own family property legislation, so outcomes can differ significantly by where you live.
No. You can file once you've separated, and the divorce is generally finalized once one year of separation has passed. Adultery or cruelty can support an earlier divorce but require proving fault, which is rarely used in practice.
Courts across Canada can recognize separation under the same roof if the relationship has genuinely ended in substance — separate finances and routines, no longer functioning as a couple. If this is your situation, documenting when that shift happened matters.
Only in Quebec. Every other province and territory has no legal separation status — there is no application, no court process and no certificate, and you are separated as soon as one spouse decides the relationship is over and acts on that decision, even while living in the same home. Quebec has séparation de corps, a Superior Court judgment that ends the duty to live together without ending the marriage. Everywhere in Canada, one year of living separate and apart is the usual ground for divorce under the federal Divorce Act.
It depends entirely on the province, and neighbouring provinces differ sharply. British Columbia and Saskatchewan bring unmarried partners into the property regime after two years, Manitoba after three or immediately on registration, and Alberta covers adult interdependent partners. Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador largely do not give unmarried partners property division — each keeps what is in their own name. Quebec gives de facto spouses no family patrimony rights, but since 30 June 2025 the parental union regime covers those with a child born or adopted on or after that date.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. ShelterSafe (sheltersafe.ca) maps every women’s shelter in Canada, each with its own 24/7 crisis line. If you are in emotional crisis, call or text 9-8-8 — the Suicide Crisis Helpline, 24/7, in English or French. 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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