Once everything else is settled, how do we actually get divorced?

A separation agreement does not divorce you

Settling parenting, support and property, whether by agreement or by court order, ends the dispute between you but does not end the marriage. Only a divorce order under the Divorce Act does that, and it has to be asked for specifically, either as its own application or combined with the other issues in one case.

Many people settle everything else and then treat the divorce itself as a final, largely administrative step — which, once the year of separation has passed and nothing else is contested, it usually is.

The ground: one year of separation

Section 8 of the Divorce Act lets a court grant a divorce on the ground that the marriage has broken down, established by one year of living separate and apart, by adultery, or by cruelty. The one-year ground needs no fault and no finding of wrongdoing — only that the year has passed and you were separated when the case was started.

You do not have to wait for the year to end before filing. A divorce application can be started earlier and completed once the year has run, and other issues in the same case can be worked on in the meantime.

Uncontested versus contested

A divorce is uncontested when both of you want it and the other terms — parenting, support, property — are already settled or are not in dispute. It proceeds on paper, based on an application, a financial statement if support is included, and a sworn affidavit for divorce, without either of you attending court in person.

A divorce becomes contested only if a spouse disputes the ground itself or insists on litigating an issue bundled into the same case, which is uncommon once separation has already been established for a year.

We prepare the application, the financial statement and the sworn affidavit for divorce, so it is ready to file the first time.

What the divorce order includes

Beyond ending the marriage, a divorce order can incorporate corollary relief under section 15 of the Divorce Act — child support, spousal support and parenting terms — so that the final agreement or court order on those issues becomes part of the divorce judgment itself if both of you ask for that.

A judge reviewing an uncontested divorce still checks that reasonable arrangements have been made for any children of the marriage before granting it, even where the parents have already agreed.

The 31-day wait and the certificate

A divorce takes effect 31 days after the judgment granting it is made, under section 12 of the Divorce Act, primarily to allow time for an appeal. Neither of you is divorced, and neither can remarry, until that period passes without an appeal. Once it has, a Certificate of Divorce can be requested from the court that granted it, and is the document that proves the divorce for other purposes, such as remarriage or a name change.

The certificate, not the original court judgment, is usually what banks, government offices and a new marriage licence application will ask to see.