By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Published · Updated
One year's residency in Saskatchewan, one year's separation, and no legal separation step first — and two years of living together makes you a spouse for family property.
Divorce in Saskatchewan follows the federal Divorce Act, but property division, home protections, and court process run on Saskatchewan's own rules — and those are what preparation should focus on.
| Residency requirement | At least one spouse must have lived in Saskatchewan for the full year immediately before filing (federal Divorce Act requirement, applies the same way in every province). |
|---|---|
| Grounds | Marriage breakdown, shown one of three ways: living separate and apart for 1 year, adultery by the other spouse, or physical/mental cruelty. Separation is the ground used in the vast majority of cases. |
| Waiting period | 1 year of living separate and apart before the divorce can be granted — you can file before the year is up, but the judgment won't issue until it's complete. Spouses can try reconciling for up to 90 days total without restarting the clock. |
| Legal separation | Saskatchewan requires no legal separation step before divorce — you are separated once one spouse decides the relationship is over and acts on it, and you can be separated while living in the same home. A separation agreement is a private contract. Saskatchewan does, however, retain a judgment of judicial separation under Part 14 of The King's Bench Act (s.14-1) — a rarely used remedy, separate from divorce, that does not end the marriage. |
| If you were never married | Two years of living together makes you a spouse for family property purposes, with the same division rights as a married couple. An application to divide family property must be made within 24 months of separation. |
| Where you file | Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan, Family Law Division, at the judicial centre serving your area (Regina and Saskatoon have the largest registries; rural centres handle files too). |
| Filing fee | Confirm current fee with the court clerk — fees differ for a joint/uncontested petition versus a contested one, and there are separate charges for the application for judgment and the certificate of divorce. 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 | Every family proceeding, sole or joint, is commenced by petition in Form 15-16 under Part 15 of The Queen's Bench Rules; a joint divorce proceeds under rule 15-100. Forms 15-1 and 15-2 are not the divorce petition. |
| Simplified option | Yes. The Court of King's Bench Self-Help Divorce Kit gives free instructions and forms for an uncontested divorce; request it from the Family Law Information Centre at 306-787-5837 or 1-888-218-2822. Note: common-law partners don't get a 'divorce' at all — since there was no marriage, separating just means dividing property and support without a petition or the 1-year wait. |
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The ground for divorce and the one-year separation rule are federal and the same across Canada, but nearly everything you negotiate — property, the family home, support amounts within federal guidelines — is shaped by Saskatchewan law. Property division here is governed by the Family Property Act, which starts from a presumption of equal division of family property, with the court able to depart from equal shares where fairness requires it. As in most provinces, property brought into the relationship, inheritances, and gifts from third parties can be treated differently from property acquired during the relationship, though the details of what's protected and how it's valued depend on your facts — this is an area worth confirming with a local family lawyer rather than assuming.
Saskatchewan also has a distinctive protection that surprises a lot of people: The Homesteads Act. If your marital home sits on land, the non-owning spouse generally has to consent before the owning spouse can sell, mortgage, or otherwise deal with it — regardless of whose name is on title. That consent requirement can become a real point of leverage or friction in negotiations, so it's worth understanding early rather than discovering it mid-dispute.
Court matters go to the Saskatchewan Court of King's Bench (renamed from Queen's Bench), which has a Family Law Division handling divorce, property, support, and parenting. Saskatchewan is a large, largely rural province, and family matters are heard at judicial centres spread across it — Regina and Saskatoon have the deepest bench and bar, but if you live outside those centres, factor travel and local scheduling into your planning.
Start your disclosure binder early: three years of tax returns and notices of assessment, recent pay statements, statements for every bank, investment, RRSP, TFSA, and pension account, mortgage and property tax records for each property, and a list of debts. If you're claiming that certain property should be excluded from division — something you owned before the relationship, an inheritance, a gift — gather the paper trail that shows its origin and, if it changed form, where the money went. In Saskatchewan, as elsewhere, exclusions are proven with documents, not memory.
Farms and small businesses are common in Saskatchewan family files, and they add real complexity: land titles, farm equipment, supply management quota, corporate shares, and partnership agreements may all need professional valuation. If either spouse farms or owns a business, start collecting corporate financials, land titles, and any shareholder or partnership agreements now — valuations on agricultural and business assets can take time to arrange, and delay tends to favour whoever wants to slow the process down.
Child support in Saskatchewan follows the Federal Child Support Guidelines, based primarily on each parent's income. Where parenting time is shared close to equally, courts typically consider a set-off between the two guideline amounts rather than one parent simply paying the other in full. Parenting arrangements are decided on the best interests of the child, and specific, workable proposals — school-year schedules, holiday splits, decision-making for health and education — tend to hold up better than general statements of intent.
Where the family income comes substantially from a farm or private corporation, income for support purposes can be a genuine point of dispute, since line 15000 income on a tax return may not reflect what the business actually generates. If this applies to you, expect disclosure and possibly an income determination to take longer than a straightforward employment-income case.
There is nothing to apply for. Outside Quebec, no Canadian province has a legal separation status — no form, no court process, no certificate. You are separated once one of you has decided the relationship is over and has begun acting on that decision, and only one of you needs to have reached it.
You do not have to be living at different addresses. Couples can be separated while still under one roof, provided they are no longer living as a couple — no longer sharing a bed, meals, finances or a social life as partners. Where moving out immediately is not affordable, this still counts.
What people usually mean by getting legally separated is making a separation agreement: a written contract covering property, support and parenting. It is not a court order but it is binding. The separation date matters in its own right — it starts the one-year clock for a no-fault divorce under the federal Divorce Act, and it is generally the date family property is valued — so be able to evidence when it was.
Saskatchewan treats unmarried couples generously by Canadian standards. Couples who have lived together as spouses for two years or more come within the family property regime, including the protections attached to the family home.
That means the default is sharing rather than keeping. Property built up over the relationship is divided on the same basis as it would be for a married couple, subject to the same exceptions and to any written agreement the two of you have made.
The deadline is the trap. An unmarried spouse who wants the court to divide family property must apply within 24 months of separation. Married spouses have longer. If you are past two years of cohabitation and the relationship ends, that two-year window starts running immediately, whether or not anything has been filed.
1) Build your disclosure binder quietly before positions harden, including anything related to a farm, business, or the family home. 2) Get independent legal advice early — even a single consultation helps you understand how the Homesteads Act and Family Property Act apply to your specific property. 3) List every asset with your best estimate of value, flagging anything you believe should be excluded and the documents that support it. 4) If you're outside Regina or Saskatoon, ask early about which judicial centre your matter will be heard at and what local timelines look like. 5) Track every deadline set out in any letter you receive — response windows, disclosure requests, proposed dates — since these often shape how the rest of the process unfolds.
One of you needs a full year of Saskatchewan residency right before filing, and you need a ground — almost always 1 year of separation. You can start the paperwork before the year is finished; the judgment just won't be granted until it is.
If you and your spouse agree on the divorce itself and the related issues (property, support, parenting), a Joint Petition for Divorce (Form 15-2) is faster and skips formal service. If you don't agree, or your spouse won't participate, you file a sole Petition for Divorce (Form 15-1) and serve them.
The Court of King's Bench Self-Help Divorce Kit bundles the instructions and forms for an uncontested divorce. Request it from the Family Law Information Centre (306-787-5837 or 1-888-218-2822) or check sasklawcourts.ca for current access.
Fill in the Petition for Divorce with your marriage certificate details, separation date, and any support or parenting terms, then file it at the King's Bench registry for your judicial centre and pay the filing fee (confirm the current amount with the clerk).
A sole petition must be formally served on the other spouse, who then has a set window to file an Answer if they intend to contest anything. A joint petition, filed together, doesn't require service.
If uncontested, you generally just wait for the response window to pass and for the full year of separation to be reached before moving forward.
Once the waiting period and any response window have passed, file the application for divorce judgment with your supporting affidavit(s) so a judge can review the file — this step carries its own fee.
After the judge grants judgment, the divorce becomes final 31 days later. You can then request a Certificate of Divorce from the registry (a per-copy fee applies) as proof for name changes, benefits, or remarriage.
The divorce itself is federal — you generally show the marriage has broken down by living separate and apart for a year. Everything you actually negotiate is provincial: property division runs on Saskatchewan's Family Property Act, and applications go to the Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan, Family Law Division, at the judicial centre serving your area. One spouse must have lived in the province for the full year before filing.
The Family Property Act starts from a presumption of equal division, though a court can order an unequal division where equal division would be unfair. Confirm how this applies to your situation with a local family lawyer.
It's a Saskatchewan law requiring the non-owning spouse's consent before the owning spouse can sell, mortgage, or otherwise deal with the marital home, regardless of who holds title. It can affect what either spouse can do with the home during a separation.
At the Court of King's Bench, Family Law Division, at judicial centres across the province. If you live outside Regina or Saskatoon, ask early about which centre applies and what local scheduling looks like.
You do not have to file anything. Saskatchewan issues no separation certificate and requires no legal separation before divorcing — 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, support and parenting. Saskatchewan does still have a judgment of judicial separation on the books, under Part 14 of The King's Bench Act, but it is rarely used and does not end the marriage. The separation date starts the one-year clock for a divorce and is usually the date family property is valued.
Generally yes. Couples who have lived together as spouses for two years or more fall within Saskatchewan's family property regime, with division rights and family-home protections on the same basis as married spouses. The important difference is timing: an unmarried spouse must apply to the court to divide family property within 24 months of separation, a shorter window than married spouses get, and it runs from separation itself.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For support with intimate partner violence, contact 2-1-1 Saskatchewan — call or text, 24/7, live answer, which will route you to local crisis support. 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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