What Are The Beginning Stages of A Separation or Divorce in Ontario?

What Are The Beginning Stages of A Separation or Divorce in Ontario?

Have you been wondering what exactly does the separation and divorce process in Ontario involve?  In other words, what happens during the separation and divorce process in Ontario?

Hi, my name is Thomas O’Malley.  I’m an experienced family lawyer in Durham Region and the GTA.

The first thing you want to do is to make sure you get the advice of an experienced family lawyer before you taking any action whatsoever.  You need to have a plan in place before you taking any action at all.

You have two main approaches to follow to deal with your separation or divorce.  You can try to negotiate a separation agreement with your former spouse.  This is usually a good idea since it is less expensive and takes less time than going to family court.

The key is that your spouse has to co-operate to negotiate a separation agreement. 

Your lawyer will send a letter or email to your spouse in which they state they believe you and your spouse can reach an amicable or friendly resolution of your family law issues with a negotiated separation agreement.

Then your spouse will usually hire a family lawyer to represent them in negotiating a separation agreement.

You and your spouse need to exchange Financial Statements and provide proof of the value of your assets and the amounts of each debt set out in your Financial Statement.

Then your lawyer will prepare a draft separation agreement for you to review.  Usually, you and your lawyer will some changes until you are both satisfied with it. 

Your lawyer now sends the draft separation agreement to your former spouse.  Your spouse will usually request some changes to the separation agreement. 

This “back and forth” in negotiating a separation agreement is very common.

When both spouses are relatively reasonable, you reach settle your family law issues with a negotiated separation agreement. 

This process usually takes a few months. 

If your spouse is unreasonable, you might have to take your former spouse to family court.  This means that your family lawyer will draft specific family law documents for your review.

When you approve this court documents, they are served on your spouse.  Your spouse then has 30 days to respond to your court paperwork with their own court paperwork.

Then, you several scheduled court dates called conferences.  These include a case conference and a settlement conference.

A judge will make specific recommendations on how to settle your case at these conferences.

Most cases settle based on some version of a judge’s recommendations.   Fortunately, most cases do not go to trial which is the end of the family court process.

The family court process usually takes from one year to 18 months or longer to complete.

If you have any questions about your separation, divorce or family law case and you would like our help, feel free to contact on my Facebook law office page, that’s O’Malley Family Law, or call me at 905-4343-8837 and I’ll point in you in the right direction. 

Click here to join my free Facebook GTA and Durham Region separation and divorce support group: GTA and Durham Region Separation and Divorce Support Group

Please make sure to share this important information with your friends, family members and co-workers.