If all that is required is the court proceeding to obtain the divorce, (which means that there is either confirmation in writing, by way of a Separation Agreement, or acknowledgment that there are no other issues), then the steps in the divorce are very predictable.

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Our Flat Fee for Uncontested Divorce – $2,040

 

Clients are provided details on uncontested divorce costs. Clients will be provided with the various steps to obtain an uncontested divorce, which will surprisingly be more than one anticipates. This is because all court processes are established by government regulation.

The divorce regulations applied to simple proceedings, in the same way that they apply to complex proceedings, so there are more than 15 identifiable steps. These steps are outlined in the next section on this page. 

 

The total cost of the divorce is comprised of numerous court fees. These are government charges for filing the documents, which in themselves are several hundred dollars. Then there is some cost for process servers, delivering documents to court.

When one gets to court to file documents one discovers that there are lineups of an hour or more to get to the counter. Lawyers reduce these costs to their clients by engaging process servers who attend at our office, and like couriers, pick up the items, but then get in line and process them through the system.

These costs will be a couple of hundred dollars in total. This is because one of the other costs of the process server may be serving the documents on the other party. This is one of the court rules. There has to be an affidavit of service sworn under oath, or affirmed as being true, signed by the process server.

Without this document, the court does not accept the position that the other party was notified. This is also a task completed by the process server.

 

Of course, there are legal fees, and these are a few hundred dollars as well. This will be set out in a detailed memo. Then there is HST, which is an additional amount which we must charge to all clients, and then remit these amounts to the government.

 

In total, a reasonable estimate of all of these costs, combined, is about $2,000. This can vary from case to case depending on how far the process server might have to go to serve documents, or whether previous divorce orders, have to be obtained. An original marriage certificate has to be obtained. Thus, there is some fluctuation in the actual cost.

 

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Steps in an Uncontested Divorce

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1. Executing Retainer Agreement (which is the document confirming the arrangement with DeRusha Law Firm).
    

2. Completing the matrimonial questionnaire (which is background information used to complete the Application for Divorce).
    

3. Receiving from the client photographs of the spouse (which may be helpful or necessary in the service of documents by the Process Servers when they attempt to serve).
    

4. Preparing the Application (which is a document that has to be signed by the client and filed with the court).
    

5. Complying with Section 9 of the Divorce Act (which the lawyer must confirm has been completed. A memo is provided to the client explaining the obligations of the lawyer to talk to the client about reconciliation processes that might be available if the parties want to reconcile).
    

6. Issuing the Application from the court (which involves a Process Server attending at the court with the document and paying the court filing fee).
    

7. Obtaining the Marriage Certificate or marriage documents (which must be filed with the court as part of the process and the client must either have these or they must be obtained through a Registrar of the Province where the parties were married).
    

8. Obtaining any previous Divorce Judgments of either spouse (which the court wants to be filed with the court to prove that any previous marriages were ended by way of Divorce, or if a spouse died a Death Certificate so it can be proven that the marriage came to end because of this reason).
    

9. Preparing a covering letter and arranging for service of the Application on the other spouse (which would involve a Process Server attending to give the document or sometimes it can be arranged that the other spouse will pick it up at our firm or have their own lawyer and it can be forwarded to their lawyer). 
    

10. Preparing the Affidavit of Service (which must be filed with the court to prove that the Application was served on the other spouse).
     

11. Preparing the Affidavit of the client to obtain the Divorce (which sets out particulars of the grounds for Divorce, references the Marriage Certificate which is also filed with court).
     

12. Preparing the Divorce Order (which is the document which would be filed with the court, along with the appropriate court filing fee).
     

13. Arranging for the Process Server to file the documents to obtain the Divorce Order.
     

14. Receiving back from the court the Divorce Order and waiting for the time period to apply for the Certificate for Divorce.
     

15. Preparing the Affidavit confirming that no appeal has been made of the Divorce Order and that the time has passed allowing for the Certificate of Divorce to be granted.
     

16. Preparing the Certificate of Divorce Document.
     

17. Arranging for the Process Server to take the Affidavit, and Certificate of Divorce and court filing fees to the court to obtain the Certificate of Divorce.
     

18. Receiving the Certificate of Divorce, and if necessary forwarding an additional copy of it to the other spouse if those are the arrangements that have been made.
     

19. Preparing the reporting letter to the client and putting the file into our closed file system.
     

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Certificate of Divorce 

 

A Certificate of Divorce, is the final document that is used by an individual to prove that they are divorced. This is not the same as a Divorce Order. A Divorce Order, in a more complex case, may cover topics such as child custody, support, schedule; spousal support; division of property; or equalization payments. In some cases the Divorce Order can contain restraining orders, and thus can be very complex and in many ways personal.

 

When a person wishes to demonstrate that they are divorced, such as when they are going to request a new marriage licence, or have to convince a government agency that they are divorced, they are not wanting to show all of the particulars as to what occurred in the divorce proceeding. The government personnel only wants to get proof of the divorce itself. Thus, the creation of a Divorce Order.

 

After the Divorce Order, is granted, there is a 30-day waiting period (the same as an appeal of a final order). If there is no appeal of the Divorce Order, then either party may proceed to receive a Certificate of Divorce. However, the preferred approach is that both sides receive an original of the Certificate of Divorce. It is very problematic to try and obtain a Certificate of Divorce years later, because the court system closes the files, and sends them to a storage area.

 

In obtaining this final document, there needs to be a confirmation sent to the court that there has been no appeal. A process server also has to deliver a payment, currently $24 for each of the Certificates of Divorce. Then each side receives the mailed original of the Certificate of Divorce. All of these costs are included in the above quote for a flat fee.

 

Although it is possible for an individual to work their way through this system, it is carefully monitored by the court clerks. A spelling mistake, or a wrong answer somewhere in the documents, results in the documents being rejected and returned.

 

Filing the documents at court is not a simple process. It should also be noted that anyone suggesting that they will assist at a significantly reduced cost, from our quoted costs, is probably not explaining about the cost of the court filing fees, or may not be explaining about the time that will be consumed in the 3 attendances at the court, for filing documents. In an ordinary application for an uncontested divorce, there is the original issuing of the document, and receiving the court file number.

 

Then, the affidavit of the materials have to be filed requesting the Divorce Order. That is the second attendance. Then there is the attendance to obtain the Certificate of Divorce. It is extremely time consuming and problematic to make these attendances personally, and DeRusha Law Firm has a trusted and reliable process server which we have been using for over 20 years that will make sure that these deliveries go as smoothly as possible.

 

Lastly, since we do this routinely we have become quite efficient, and thereby trying to keep the costs as reasonable as possible.

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