Separation and divorce: understand the process

Separation alone does not legally end a marriage; divorce needs a court process, together with arrangements for the children and money. Knowing the steps early protects your rights and your children’s.

1. Get advice from a family lawyer or Legal Aid (your province’s legal assistance) early. Prepare your marriage certificate and financial information, and keep safe copies somewhere else.
2. Check the residency rule before applying: usually one spouse must have lived in the province for at least a year before filing.
3. Know the grounds: one year of separation is one way to show the marriage has broken down, and other legal grounds exist. You can file before the year is over, but the court grants a divorce on that ground only once it is complete.
4. Work through support, property, debts, parenting time and decision-making responsibility. The child’s best interests come first in any arrangement, and division is not always equal.
5. Use your province’s court forms and service rules, and once the process ends keep the final order and the required certificate. Those are the documents that prove your status later.
6. Know that family mediation is a voluntary option for reaching agreement, but where there is family violence or one side controls the other it may not be suitable; in that case ask a lawyer or a legal aid office, and for immediate danger call 911.

Caution: A private agreement or a religious divorce alone does not replace checking your civil marital status.

Bottom line: Separation alone does not legally end a marriage; divorce needs a court process, together with arrangements for the children and money. Knowing the steps early protects your rights and your children’s.

Last reviewed: 27 September 2026