What are the legal grounds for a divorce in Canada?
People ask if they have to be living apart for a certain amount of time, or if there has to be proof of infidelity.
Basically, all you need is a breakdown of the marriage. That can mean a few different things. Canada’s Divorce Act defines those breakdowns as:
• The spouses have lived separate and apart for at least one year immediately preceding the determination of the divorce proceeding and were living separate and apart at the commencement of the proceeding; or
• The spouse against whom the divorce proceeding is brought has, since the celebration of the marriage:
—Committed adultery, or
—Treated the other spouse with physical or mental cruelty of such a kind as to render intolerable the continued cohabitation of the spouses.
Simply put, a divorce can be legally granted if you’ve lived apart for a year, there is proven adultery, or there is proven mental or physical abuse.
If you have any questions about Canada’s divorce laws, please contact one of our divorce lawyers in Newmarket, Barrie, or Orillia.
