Author: Lisa Gelman

“Ordinarily resident” means that your permanent home is in Ontario. The definition of “ordinarily resident” has been considered in many cases and has been interpreted to refer to a place where you have a settled routine in your normal life, rather than somewhere you visit or stay. There is a requirement that you intend to …

How long do I have to live in Ontario to obtain a divorce? As long as you or your spouse has been “ordinarily resident” in Ontario for at least one year immediately preceding the start of the divorce proceedings, you can get a divorce in Ontario.

All these issues should be decided before the divorce is final but it is possible to determine them after the divorce. The judge will only consider these issues if they are included in the application for divorce. Support or custody are not final and can be changed at any time if there are significant changes …

It is not necessary that both spouses want to get a divorce, provided you have lived separate and apart for one year. If one spouse wants a divorce, the marriage can be said to have broken down. The only caveat is that you cannot apply for a divorce on the basis of your own adultery …

A spouse can remarry only after the divorce is granted by the court.

Sexual relations are but one factor to look at when determining if spouses are living separate and apart. For this reason, it is quite clear that one instance of sexual relations will not count as a resumption of living together. As long as you do not resume living in a marital relationship for more than …

You generally must wait one year from separation before a divorce is granted. There are two cases in which you do not need to wait the year before being granted a divorce. (1) If your spouse has had sexual intercourse with someone else during your marriage and you did not forgive this adultery or live …

Ontario law allows a spouse to elect to resume their former surname upon divorce. The surname that you can elect to resume is the surname you held immediately before marriage. This is a simple process but must be done within 90 days of the divorce. If more time has elapsed, you will have to apply …

Divorce law is governed by the Federal government under the Divorce Act. The Act stipulates that there is fundamentally only one ground for divorce and that is “marital breakdown”. Marital breakdown can be proven in three ways: 1. You and your spouse have lived separately for the period of one year – The one year …

Annulment allows spouses to end their marriage without requiring a divorce. An annulment order is a declaration that the marriage is void and establishes that the marriage never existed. It makes it as if the spouses were never legally married. It is difficult to establish grounds for annulment in Ontario. The cases in which an …