Changing Your Locks or Name When Fleeing Violence in Alberta

When you are fleeing a partner, two practical questions come up fast: can you change the locks, and can you change your name to make yourself harder to find? The answers depend on your situation, and there are safer routes than acting alone.

This article explains what Alberta's Protection Against Family Violence Act says about your home and your privacy. It is general information, and a lawyer can confirm what applies to you.

This article covers the law of Alberta.

Changing locks: ownership and leases matter

Whether you can change locks on your own depends on who owns or rents the home and what the lease or ownership documents say. If the home is rented, the landlord is usually involved, so check your lease and speak to the landlord or a lawyer before you act.

Changing locks yourself when the other person also has a right to be in the home can create conflict or legal problems. A court order is the safer way to deal with who stays in the home.

Using a court order to keep the home

An emergency protection order can give you exclusive occupation of the residence for a specified period, whether or not the home is jointly owned or leased. It can also order police to remove the other person and supervise the retrieval of belongings.

A King's Bench protection order can also include exclusive occupation for a specified period, plus temporary possession of specified personal property such as a vehicle, keys and identification.

These orders do not change ownership or title to property. A landlord also cannot evict you solely because you are not a party to the lease.

A different order, for separating couples whether married or not, is not based on violence. It turns on who would be most inconvenienced or the children's best interests, and a $200 fee applies if no property division action has started.

Changing your name

A legal name change is a separate process from a protection order, and the steps and what records become public depend on your circumstances. Ask a lawyer how it works for someone fleeing violence, including whether your new name can be kept out of public view, before you start.

In the meantime, the protections that are confirmed are about your location and your contact with the other person, covered below.

Keeping your location and contact private

• Court clerks must keep your location confidential unless you consent, and hearings may be closed with publication banned.
• A no-contact term prohibits communication and contact by any means, including through a third party, unless the order says otherwise.
• An order is not effective against a person unless they have actual notice of it.

Ask the court or your lawyer how your address will be handled in the documents you file.

What to do next

• Find your lease or ownership documents and note whose names are on them.
• Talk to a lawyer before changing locks or filing a name change.
• Ask about an emergency protection order if you are in immediate danger.
• Ask the court how your location will be kept confidential.
• Keep copies of any order with you so police can see it.

If the other person breaches an order they know about, it is an offence, and a peace officer may arrest without a warrant.

Frequently asked questions