Family Law
The Ontario Divorce Process, Step by Step
How divorce actually proceeds in Ontario: the one-year separation ground, filing at the Superior Court, the 31-day effective date, and how parenting, support and property fit in.
Reviewed by Sabeeya Akram, Managing Partner, Ayoun & Sabeeya LLP
Published August 31, 2026
The ground: one year of living separate and apart
Nearly all Ontario divorces proceed under the Divorce Act on the ground that the spouses have lived separate and apart for one year. You can be separated under the same roof — courts look at separate finances, separate routines and the end of the marital relationship — and you can start the application before the year is up; the divorce is simply not granted until the year is complete.
Step 1 — Settle the real issues first
The divorce order ends the marriage; it does not divide property or set support. The substantive work — parenting arrangements, child and spousal support, equalization of property — is resolved by separation agreement wherever possible, or by court order where necessary. Resolving these first is what turns your divorce into an uncontested paperwork exercise instead of litigation.
Step 2 — File the application
A divorce application (simple, joint, or combined with other claims) is issued in the Superior Court of Justice and filed electronically. The federal Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings clears the file against duplicate proceedings, the respondent is served (not needed in a joint application), and if nothing is contested the file proceeds on affidavit evidence — usually with no courtroom attendance at all.
Step 3 — The order and the 31 days
A granted divorce takes effect on the 31st day after the order — the appeal window. After that, either spouse can obtain the Certificate of Divorce, the document you need to remarry. Book nothing irreversible for day 32.
Timelines and cost, honestly
Once the year of separation has run, uncontested divorces typically complete in a few months, driven mostly by court processing. We quote uncontested divorces and separation agreements as flat fees at the consultation; contested matters run at $199 per half-hour after your free first 15 minutes, with the strategy — and its cost — agreed before we start.
The content of this website is legal information about Ontario and Canadian law, not legal advice. Reading it, or contacting us through it, does not create a lawyer-client relationship — that begins only after we confirm in writing that the firm is acting for you.