How do I serve my spouse with the divorce application in Ontario?

For a sole divorce application, you are required to personally serve your spouse with the court documents after they are filed. Personal service means handing the documents directly to your spouse — not leaving them in a mailbox, sending by email, or asking a friend to drop them off. Typically, the person serving your spouse must be an adult other than yourself; you cannot serve your own documents.

Many people use a process server — a professional who serves court documents — to complete this step cleanly and provide the required affidavit of service. The affidavit of service (sworn by the person who served the documents) is then filed with the court to confirm that your spouse was served. Without this, the court cannot proceed.

If your spouse cannot be located, you can apply to the court for permission to use an alternative form of service, such as by email, social media, or publication. You will need to demonstrate the efforts you made to locate your spouse before the court will permit alternative service.

For a joint application, personal service is not required since both parties sign the application together. If your spouse is cooperative and lives nearby, the simplest approach is often to file a joint application to avoid the service step altogether.