Divorce and separation

No, you aren't married, but after one or two years, you have a lot of the same rights as a married couple would.

You can't "become" married by default — you have to actively go and get married for the law to treat you and your partner exactly as it would a married couple. But when it comes to matters such as health insurance, government benefits (including retirement), and inheritance, you could be treated like married spouses. Generally, it takes two years together before this is the case, but many benefits are available after just one year of living together, or have no minimum requirements.

Similarly, if your relationship breaks up, the courts could treat you like a married couple in some ways, especially if you lived together for at least two years. However, it's a lot more complicated for unmarried partners to settle their financial issues when a relationship ends. For that reason, it's best to write up and sign an agreement before you start living together that says who will get what if you break up. (This is particularly true if you're paying toward the mortgage but your name isn't on the house, or if you think you would need spousal or child support if you and your partner broke up.)

For more information, speak to a lawyer or read Living Together or Living Apart.

There are two separate court fees you have to pay to get a divorce: $210 when you file the first documents (a $200 filing fee, plus $10 for a Registration of Divorce); and $80 when you file the Final Application. You may also choose to pay another $40 for an optional Certificate of Divorce.

If you ever want to remarry, you'll have to have the Certificate of Divorce. You can order the Certificate of Divorce at any time after the divorce takes effect. There are also some other costs involved in getting a divorce. If you choose to have your Affidavits sworn at the court registry, this will cost you $40 per Affidavit. If you don't have a certified copy of your marriage certificate or registration of marriage, you'll have to pay for this document as well. These are the court costs only, and don't cover the cost of having a process server deliver your documents or having your documents sworn anywhere other than the court registry.

Note: If you can't afford to pay court fees, see our self-help guide called Getting an indigency order in Supreme Court.

If you file your separation agreement at a court registry, the court can enforce the parts of your agreement that have to do with child custody, guardianship, and access as if they were court orders.

If you file the agreement at a Provincial Court, you must fill out Form 28 and file it at the registry, along with your agreement.

If you have a lawyer, he or she can advise you about which court would be appropriate.

For more information, see our fact sheet on separation agreements.

Generally, if your marriage was valid where it was performed, BC will recognize it. There are some exceptions, however. See the Marriage page on JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource website for information about when a marriage might be considered invalid.

If your marriage is valid to begin with (see above) and you satisfy BC's other requirements for getting a divorce, then you can divorce here. For a list of those other requirements, see the Marriage page on JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource website. (Note that one of the spouses must have lived in BC for at least one year before you can start the divorce.)

No. A valid foreign divorce is valid in BC. Technically, this is only true if one of the spouses lived for at least one year in the country where the divorce was granted. However, this requirement is usually not important in practice. It only comes up if one spouse claims that the divorce isn't valid — and that rarely happens.

Yes. Technically, the law says it's only valid if one spouses lived in the other country for at least one year before starting the divorce. In practice, though, this residency requirement doesn't usually matter. It only comes up if one spouse claims that the divorce isn't valid — and that rarely happens.

If you and your spouse or common law partner decide to divorce or separate, instead of going to court, you can agree to work together with lawyers who practice collaborative family law to find acceptable solutions that work for both of you. In the collaborative family law process, both you and your spouse or partner are represented by your own lawyer. The collaborative process focuses on your needs and your children's needs. Communication between you and your spouse/partner is open and full and you and your spouse/partner are encouraged to reach your own decisions about issues that are important to you. For more information about collaborative law, see the collaborative law section of Staying out of court.

In March 2007, I married a Frenchman who planned to move to Canada after we married. We were married in BC. We've never lived together, and within the first week of marriage, we realized we had made a mistake. My question now is must we still wait the full year of separation before filing for divorce?

Under the Divorce Act, a divorce may be granted on one of three grounds: intentional separation for more than one year, adultery, and physical or mental cruelty.

Most divorces are granted on the basis of intentional separation for more than a year. Separation begins when one or both parties decide to end the marital relationship and live separately and apart. It may be possible to be separated while living in the same home, provided that the marital aspects of the relationship have ended.

It's possible to get a divorce more quickly by basing it on the grounds of either adultery or physical or mental cruelty. However, you must be able to prove the adultery or cruelty. (You must also sue the person your spouse was adulterous with.) So, unless your spouse is willing to admit to being adulterous or cruel, the process is likely to be far more expensive than waiting for the one-year separation period to pass. It's best to talk to a lawyer before deciding to seek a divorce on grounds other than separation. See Who can help for more information about how to find a lawyer.

When you got married, your name did not automatically change. You're allowed to use your spouse's surname, but a formal name change was not necessary.

When you apply for a divorce, the first form you'll fill out is called the "Notice of Family Claim (Form 3)." When you fill out this form, use the name that appears on your marriage certificate. If you've used another name since that time, then add "also known as" where it asks for the name on the marriage certificate. If you use our self-help guide for filling out the Notice of Family Claim, this is further explained in the instructions for the Notice of Family Claim.

See the BC Vital Statistics website for more information about name changes.

Anytime after 31 days have passed and the divorce has become final, you can go back to the registry to ask for a Certificate of Divorce. As of January 2002, the cost is $40 per certificate.

Note: This step isn't mandatory. If you don't go to the court registry to get a Certificate of Divorce, your divorce will still be legal. If you ever have to show legal proof of your divorce, you can use your Divorce Order.

To apply for a Certificate of Divorce, you need to take to the registry a copy of the Divorce Order (make a photocopy of the one you have and keep yours), and another Requisition.

Even though you've already filed a separation agreement, you still need to fill out an Affidavit (Desk Order Divorce) and Child Support Affidavit.

When you prepare Affidavits describing the arrangements made for custody, access, and child support, draw the court's attention to the filed separation agreement. Our online divorce guide (for sole applicants) contains further instructions for completing the forms.

A divorce is the proceeding you take to end a valid marriage. Annulment is the proceeding you take to end an invalid marriage.

For example, a marriage might be invalid if one spouse was already married when he or she married the other, or if the husband and wife found out they were brother and sister.

If you were married outside of Canada, the question of whether a marriage is valid is determined by the laws of the place where the marriage occurred. So if the marriage was valid where it was performed, it will generally be considered valid here in BC too.
Note: Some religious authorities grant annulments, but these annulments don't legally cancel the marriage.

It may be difficult to do so. You'll need to apply to the BC Supreme Court for an order to annul the marriage based on a valid reason. Use our self-help guide How do we get a non-final family order in Supreme Court if we can't agree, but follow the instructions for getting "other orders" in the Notice of Family Claim (Form F3, Schedule 5).

You should also get a legal opinion on your matter by speaking to a lawyer through the Lawyer Referral Service.

You may find it's easier to apply for a divorce 12 months after separating, using our self-help divorce guide.

If your annulment is legally valid in the country where it was granted, it's valid in BC. However, an annulment that comes from a religious authority (instead of a court) isn't valid in BC.

I divorced (final decree) in January 1978. I have no idea where any of the papers that came to me at that time might be. They may have been thrown out at some time. However, I would like to get married again and need to prove that I did get divorced. My ex-husband won't give me the details and I don't have anybody who can help me.

For information about how to get a copy of a divorce certificate, see Obtaining a Divorce Certificate on the Court Services website (Ministry of Attorney General). This page includes a link to the addresses and phone numbers of all Supreme Court registries in BC and a link to the Central Divorce Registry in Ottawa in case you can't remember which Supreme Court location issued your divorce.

You can call the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings for Canada, located in Ottawa, Ontario. They can tell you whether you have a divorce order, and if so, where it's filed. See Obtaining a Divorce Certificate on the Court Services website for a link to the Central Registry and information about how to get a copy of the final divorce order.

I recently started the process for a divorce with my ex-husband. My ex took care of the paperwork, and I have signed and returned all the forms to him. I currently live in Australia and he lives in BC, Canada. To date, I haven't received any kind of confirmation that the divorce has been filed and finalized. How can I find out if it has and get proof of that?

If you're not sure whether or not your divorce has been finalized, call the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings for Canada, located in Ottawa, Ontario. They can tell you whether you have a divorce order and if so, where it's filed. If your divorce was filed in BC, see Obtaining a Divorce Certificate on the BC Ministry of Attorney General's Court Services Branch website for information about how to get a copy of the final divorce order. This page also contains contact information for the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings.

I'm representing myself and I have found there are terms that I can't find a clear and concise definition of. For example, costs. This is a minefield for the lay person! What costs? The costs of appearing in court? The costs paid to the lawyer to date? If it's a total of all legal costs, then how is it broken down?

In the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal, "costs" refers to a court order that says that the losing party in a lawsuit must pay the legal expenses of the successful party. See our fact sheet about costs for more detailed information about how costs are calculated.

If you don't have an address for your separated spouse, you need to try and locate him or her. See the resources on JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource (scroll down to "Starting an Action" and read the section called "find my ex?").

If you've tried our suggestions (above) for finding an address for your separated spouse but haven't succeeded, you could apply to the court for an Order for substituted service. See our self-help guide on how to arrange for alternative service. See also the resources on JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource (scroll down to "Starting an Action" and read the section called "substitutionally serve someone with legal documents?") for some suggestions on how to proceed.

Generally, no. If your spouse no longer lives in BC, you'll have to apply in Supreme Court, not Provincial Court. This is because Provincial Court applications can't be validly served on a person outside BC. One exception to this rule is for applications to get or change an order for support. The Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act allows you to apply in Provincial Court if your spouse is outside of BC (or if the order you want to change was made in Provincial Court).

Generally, you must serve documents on a spouse who lives outside BC the same way you would serve a spouse within BC. This is true whether your separated spouse lives in another Canadian province or territory, or in another country. See our self-help guide on how to serve Supreme Court documents outside BC (instructions for the person serving your documents available as a PDF in English; see the Quick link at the right-hand side of the screen).

You can ask a friend or family member who lives near your spouse to personally serve documents for you, or you can hire a professional process server to serve the documents on your spouse for you. Or, if your separated spouse lives in a country that has signed the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, you could choose to have the documents served on your separated spouse by following the procedures set out in that Convention.

If you want to hire a process server to serve the documents personally on your separated spouse, you can try to locate process serving companies where he or she lives using either the local yellow pages or the Internet. The fact that you've not seen your spouse in many years doesn't affect the requirements for serving documents.

I originally served my wife with the Notice of Family Claim (Form F3) (or a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim under the old rules) nine months ago, but did not take the next step of having an Affidavit of Service completed and filed with the court registry. This was because serving my wife with the court documents led to new discussions about trying to save our marriage. We've since agreed to move ahead with the divorce, but now I no longer have three copies of the Notice of Family Claim (or Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim). Is the original service still valid, nine months later, or do I have to re-serve the documents? If I have to re-serve the documents, will the court registry give me copies of the documents I already filed, so that I can have them served on my wife? Or must I start from scratch, re-file everything, and pay the full amount again?

A Notice of Family Claim (Form F3) remains effective for 12 months. This means you can continue with your divorce application process because you had the Notice of Family Claim served within that 12-month period. You can apply to renew the Notice of Family Claim if it's not served on the other party within the 12-month period.

Your next step is to have the person who served the documents on your wife complete an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16). See our self-help guide on how to serve Supreme Court documents.

If the person who served the court documents on your wife is no longer available to swear an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16), you must have someone else re-serve the court documents on your wife. You can have the court documents re-served so long as this happens within 12 months of the date the Notice of Family Claim was filed with the court registry. The new server must then complete an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16). If you need additional copies of the documents that you filed with the court, contact the court registry.

If the Notice of Family Claim hasn't been served within 12 months of the date it was filed with the court registry, an applicant has two options. He or she can either:

• file a new Notice of Family Claim with the court registry (and pay another filing fee) or
• make a separate application to the Supreme Court to have the Notice of Family Claim renewed for another year, and then serve the renewed documents (this is a much cheaper option).

To get help, see the services listed in Who can help?

Form F30 is also called an Affidavit. You can find it either on the Court Services Branch forms page or on our Court forms page, listed under Affidavit.

Yes. All cases started before the new rules took effect on July 1, 2010 are considered (or "deemed") to be family law cases under the new rules.

First of all, from July 1 on, you must follow the court rules as set out in the new Supreme Court Family Rules.

Secondly, if you filed documents before July 1, 2010 that contained different names or terms they are considered (or "deemed") to be the new documents and the new terms apply to your case. For example, if you filed a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim before July 1, 2010, you're now considered to be the "claimant" instead of the "plaintiff" and the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim are considered to be the "Notice of Family Claim." If you filed an Appearance or an Appearance and Statement of Defence, you're now the "respondent" instead of the "defendant" and your documents will be referred to as a "Response" under the new rules.

See also our Old Rules/New Rules Chart showing the names of documents filed/terms used under the old rules and what they are called under the new rules.

In most cases, neither party will have to file new documents. However, if one party does want the other party to use the new form instead of the document they filed before July 1, 2010, they can serve a Demand (Form F99) on the other party, and the other party must file the new document within 21 days of being served with the Demand.

You can't make this demand if final orders have been made for all the claims in your case.

One situation where it might be helpful to ask the other party to file the new form is if the other party filed a Writ of Summons or a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim before July 1, 2010, but you've not yet filed an Appearance or Statement of Defence. The new Response (Form F4) asks you to respond to the facts and claims set out in the Notice of Family Claim and this form will be difficult to fill out if the other party hasn't filed a Notice of Family Claim.