Tag: Simple Divorce

It would be great if marriages lasted forever. It would also be great if you could just walk away from your spouse and call it a day. But in Ontario, as well as the rest of Canada and most of the world, your marriage isn’t over until you obtain a divorce order from the court. There are mechanisms in place that permit a Simple Divorce In Ontario, so that ending your marriage can be simple, efficient and less costly than a drawn out legal battle.

Let’s face it, if your spouse does not want to divorce, or does not agree on dividing your assets, child custody and access, or other issues, you are likely to be in court going through the mess of a “contested divorce.” But a Simple Divorce In Ontario is possible going through an “uncontested divorce.”

One simple way to get this done is to apply for a divorce yourself and, if your spouse does not respond, it will likely be granted without an issue.

Also simple is the situation where you and your partner agree to divorce and how to divvy up assets and care for the children. In such a case, you can jointly apply for an uncontested divorce and come up with terms for how these issues will be dealt with.

Even if you are in agreement, Ontario requires a divorcing couple to meet certain criteria. First, you must have had an actual marriage ceremony and that the marriage has now ended, something demonstrated through not living together anymore, not sleeping in the same bed, etc. If you cannot show this, it may be difficult to obtain an order from the court.

Even when you have an uncontested divorce, you may also need to obtain a religious divorce. This is not done through the courts, but rather from your place of worship or religious organization, something that varies from faith to faith. Often times, without the religious divorce, you may not be able to marry again in that religion.

When it comes to dividing assets, the marital home (or “matrimonial home”) is something each spouse has equal rights to, no matter who the owner of record is. Even if you move out, you retain these rights. However, once you get divorced, if you are not the owner of record, you may still have the right to a share in the value of the home, but you lose the right to stay in the home, because you are not married any more.

These are just a couple of considerations that must be contemplated when seeking to divorce in Ontario. Of course, there are issues regarding children, finances, personal property, jewelry, automobiles, and more. The best way to get through this process as easily as possible is to attempt to agree and apply for a simple divorce. If you cannot, it may get expensive and emotionally exhausting.

 

Contact us today for an experienced divorce lawyer Toronto.

In order to successfully end a marriage there is need for debts and assets of the marriage to be divided between the marital parties. Upon separation or divorce each spouse is entitled to what is termed and equalization of net family property. The equalization will be carried out for any couple who go to the court for the division of property as opposed to spouses who decide to settle and share the marriage’s net family property between themselves privately for a simple divorce Ontario. Any spouse can apply for equalization from the court in accordance to the Ontario Family Law Act at any time after separation has begun.

Under the Family Law Act, Ontario’s property equalization scheme is called the deferred community of property regime. The deferred community of property regime basically means that when two people enter a marriage each spouse is automatically entitled to an equal share of the profits of that marriage. According to the Family Law Act inherent in the marital relationship each party to the marriage gives an equal contribution to the marriage and hence once the marriage is broken down and there is a divorce the Family Law Act provides that there ought to be an equal sharing of what the parties to the marriage put into the marriage. The Family Law Act seeks to provide for an equitable sharing between the parties to the marriage and this is done so as to compensate the spouses fairly for their equal contribution to the marriage for its duration. Therefore, the assets acquired during the spouse’s marriage are to be divided between the two parties to the marriage equally.

However, while the contribution to the marriage may have been equal there are some circumstances that may see one of the parties to a marriage actively work at depleting the contribution made by themselves as well as by their spouse. When such a circumstance arises this begs the question if both parties to the marriage are still entitled to an equal share of the profits of their marriage despite the actions of the spouse who worked at depleting such profits? The answer depends on the facts surrounding the circumstances that resulted in the depletion of the net family property value or profit. Some actions that have resulted in the court giving an unequal sharing of the net family property are discussed below:

• Reckless investing – this is where a spouse may have been involved in deceit and various acts of financial misconduct designed to hide his or her reckless investments from the other spouse. For example, in respect of the stock market. Thus in order to make such investments a spouse goes so far as to forge the signature of the other spouse and use the other spouse’s credit cards without his or her knowledge. And further, actively works at trying to hide the family’s financial affairs from the other spouse and suffers capital loss as a result of the investments.
• Spending to feed one’s addiction whether alcohol or drugs and thus results in the depletion of the profits of the family.