Divorce & 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 cannot "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 is a lot more complicated for unmarried partners to settle their financial issues when a relationship ends. For that reason, it is 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 are paying toward the mortgage but your name is not 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 see Living Together or Living Apart.

There are two separate court fees you have to pay to get a divorce: $218 when you file the first documents (a $208 filing fee, plus $10 for a Registration of Divorce); and $62 when you file the Final Application. You may also choose to pay another $31 for an optional Certificate of Divorce.

If you ever want to remarry, you will 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 $31 per Affidavit. If you do not have a certified copy of your marriage certificate or registration of marriage, you will have to pay for this document as well. These are the court costs only, and do not 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 cannot 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.

To file the agreement at a Supreme Court, both you and the other party need to fill out Form 90 and file it at the registry, along with your agreement.

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 is not valid — and that rarely happens.

Yes. Technically, the law says it is 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 does not usually matter. It only comes up if one spouse claims that the divorce is not 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 have 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 is 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. 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 is 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.

Which name should I use on the divorce forms — my maiden name or my married name?

When you got married, your name did not automatically change. You are 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 will fill out is called the "Writ of Summons." When you fill out this form, use the name that appears on your marriage certificate. If you have 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 getting an uncontested divorce, this is further explained in the instructions for the Writ of Summons.

If you have other questions about getting a divorce that are not answered on this website, please contact your local legal information outreach worker.

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 $31 per certificate. Note: This step is not 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 (Word).

I filed the separation agreement with the court a few years ago and now I am applying for a divorce.

Even though you have already filed a separation agreement, you still need to fill out the Plaintiff's Affidavit and Child Support Affidavit.

Part D of your Statement of Claim is where you describe your separation agreement for the court.

When you prepare Affidavits describing the arrangements made for custody, access, and child support, draw the court's attention to the filed separation agreement. Step 5 of 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 do not legally cancel the marriage.

It may be difficult to do so. You will need to apply to the BC Supreme Court for an order to annul the marriage based on a valid reason. See the steps involved in getting a Supreme Court order on the BC Supreme Court Self-Help Centre website (scroll down to Guidebooks — Starting a Civil Proceeding in Supreme Court). If you live in the Lower Mainland, you could visit the centre.

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

You may find it is easier to apply for a divorce 12 months after separating, because you could use our self-help divorce guide.

If you are concerned about the time and costs involved in ending your marriage, getting a divorce is easier and quicker to do on your own.

If your annulment is legally valid in the country where it was granted, it is valid in BC. However, an annulment that comes from a religious authority (instead of a court) is not 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 will not give me the details and I do not 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 cannot 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 is 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 have not received any kind of confirmation that the divorce has been filed and finalised. How can I find out if it has and get proof of that?

If you are not sure whether or not your divorce has been finalized, you must either go to the court registry in person or give written authorization to someone else to go to the registry, look at the court file for you, and let you know.

If you find out that your divorce has been finalized, see Obtaining a Divorce Certificate on the Court Services website for information about how to get a copy of the final divorce order from the registry.

I am representing myself and I have found there are terms that I cannot 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 is 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 do not 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 have tried our suggestions (above) for finding an address for your separated spouse but have not succeeded, you could apply to the court for an Order for substituted service. See our self-help guide on how to arrange for substituted 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.

For more information or advice about your situation, contact LawLINE.

No. If your spouse no longer lives in BC, you will have to make your application in Supreme Court, not Provincial Court. This is because Provincial Court applications cannot be validly served on a person outside BC.

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 (also available as a PDF in English and several other languages; see the Quick links 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 have not seen your spouse in many years does not affect the requirements for serving documents.

I originally served my wife with the Writ of Summons and the Statement of Claim 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 have since agreed to move ahead with the divorce, but now I no longer have three copies of the 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 Writ of Summons can be served within 12 months of the date it was filed with the court registry. This means you can continue with your divorce application process because you had the Writ served on your wife within that 12-month period.

Your next step is to have the person who served the documents on your wife complete an Affidavit of Service. See our self-help guide on how to serve documents and choose the Supreme Court option at the bottom of the page.

If the person who served the court documents on your wife is no longer available to swear an Affidavit of Service, 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 Writ of Summon was filed with the court registry. The new server must then complete an Affidavit of Service. If you need additional copies of the documents that you filed with the court, contact the court registry.

If the Writ of Summons has not 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 Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim with the court registry (and pay another filing fee) or
• make a separate application to the Supreme Court to have the Writ of Summons renewed for another year, and then serve the renewed documents (this is a much cheaper option).

A service that could help you is the LawLINE. Or see the other services listed in Who can help?

I intend to apply to the Supreme Court to change a final divorce order made more than three years ago. I have received legal advice suggesting that I file and serve on the other party a "Notice of Intention to Proceed" before serving a Notice of Motion even though final judgment in my case has been granted. I searched for this form, but can't find one. Is there such a form or do I simply write a letter stating my notice of intention to proceed and serve it on the other party?

There is a Supreme Court form that you can use, either before or after a final judgment is granted. See our self-help guide called How to use a Supreme Court Notice of Intention to Proceed for links to a blank form, and information about when to use it, and how to fill it out and serve it on the other party.

Form 60 is also called an Affidavit. You can find one on our Court forms page, listed under Affidavit.