# canadain divorce/seperation laws



## amanda1959 (Mar 29, 2010)

I am filing for a legal seperation in the new year. I am currently living and working abroad so we are seperated by distance. In Canada it takes 12 months of seperation to file for divorce. Can the time seperated be retroactive to the date I moved away for work? When I move home again in July 2011 I may have to live at thehouse or I am considering living with a friend or getting an apartment. Will living away from the marital home make things slower because I have moved out of the matrimonal home? Will it impact my alimony if I am living and working outside of the home?


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## chefmaster (Oct 30, 2010)

According to 6 Common Legal Separation Myths in Canada the answers to your questions are yes, no and no


The most important thing I noticed on the website mentioned above was this:

Do I need a lawyer for a separation agreement?
Yes. There are many ways to reduce the cost of a lawyer in the divorce process, but drafting your own separation agreement is not one of them. Separation Agreements are quite a complex contracts that requires very precise wording and attention to detail for them to be held up in court. For instance, if you simply say something like No spousal support is payable by either spouse a court will not enforce this. To waive spousal support, you will need many complex clauses that can run for pages.


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## amanda1959 (Mar 29, 2010)

The problem is when to ask for a legal seperation? He has greater earning power than I do and his company is growing. I was thinking of asking for half of his shares of the company has well as alimony. I am a teacher and his ability to make greater amounts of money in the future are of concern to me. I want to be taken care of financially if the company does go big. It just wouldn't be fair for me to be less than taken care of if this was the case.


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## colour-me-confused (Sep 15, 2010)

It depends some on where you live in Canada. For instance, in BC they say that there is no such thing as a legal separation. According to them, as long as you have been separated and living apart outside the marital home then you are separated. You should still file a separation agreement either way though. Just to keep things on the up and up. You can actually buy a do it yourself separation kit that you and your spouse can fill out together. You then take that signed document and simply file it at your local courthouse. Each of you get a copy. If you two cannot come to agreements on your own then you can go through a mediator or use lawyers. And, actually, you can write up the agreement and not file it. Your not actually required to file a separation agreement. You can simply do it and then both of you and to witnesses sign and you each keep your own copies. From what the court people told me they ill still consider it a binding contract either way. The only way to amend it is by mutual written agreement or if a judge says so later on.


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## PBear (Nov 16, 2010)

Amanda, you can also check out Ottawa Divorce .com Forums for some more Canadian specific stuff, if you haven't already. Not that the advice here is bad, but the other site is mostly Canadians, and many of them seem to have worked through their legal issues on their own. And it's not Ontario specific, there's people familiar with many provinces, I think.

Good luck!

C


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