What Does It Mean to Be Legally Separated?
Your friends might have been surprised when you told them you were getting a divorce, but you could see your divorce coming a long way. You and your spouse know that your relationship ended many years ago, perhaps even longer ago than you have ever admitted to each other, or even to yourselves. The road to summoning the courage to apply for a divorce was long, and then you see the question on the divorce application that asks you if you and your spouse have been separated for a year. How do you answer? If the answer is no, does that mean that you must wait another year before you can move forward with your divorce? If you and your spouse reconcile briefly, does that mean that the waiting period resets? Will you be stuck in marriage limbo year after year, just like you are now? Fortunately, Ontario’s family laws acknowledge that real life can be messy, so the definition of legal separation is broad enough to include many scenarios which naturally precede divorce. For help determining when your separation from your spouse officially began, contact a Mississauga family lawyer.
Ontario Law Allows for an Economically Realistic Definition of Legal Separation
Ontario, like most jurisdictions in North America and Western Europe, allows for no fault divorce. This means that couples have the right to legally dissolve their marriage simply because they no longer wish to be married to each other. In Ontario, though, one of the prerequisites for filing for uncontested divorce, whether in its manifestation as simple divorce or joint divorce, you must certify that you and your spouse have been separated for at least a year.
What does it mean to be separated? Ontario law acknowledges a flexible definition of separation. You and your spouse might still count as separated, even if you live in the same house. Most people cannot afford to pay for two households simply because their relationship with their spouse has broken down. You can count your separation as beginning on the day of the confrontation after which you and your spouse never forgave each other, the day you found out about your spouse’s extramarital affair, the day your birthday went by without your spouse acknowledging it, or whichever other event signaled the end of your relationship in your estimation.
If you and your spouse separate, with or without one of you moving out of the marital home, you can reconcile briefly without it making the legal separation clock reset. As long as your reconciliation lasts less than 90 days, it does not count against the one-year period of separation required before you file for divorce.
Contact Zagazeta Garcia LLP About Making Your Divorce Official
A family lawyer can help you file for divorce if you and your spouse have been separated for at least a year, even if you are still living together in the same house. Contact Zagazeta Garcia LLP in Mississauga, Ontario to discuss your case.
Source:
.legalaid.on.ca/faq/simple-divorce/
