J. Donovan Law Group
SIMPLIFIED DIVORCE
2022
Process Explained
Your divorce has been approved for the simplified divorce process.
We have received your payment of $789 plus HST for a total of $907.35 and have prepared your Petition for Divorce for signing.
To prepare for your first appointment, which is to sign, please bring your photo ID and original Marriage Certificate.
You will also need to bring $110 for the filing fee payable to the Minister of Finance. The $110 is not a part of our fees and is separate. It must be paid to us and we pay it to the government when we file the Petition for Divorce. You may pay this by e-transfer to legalbills@jdonovanlaw.ca, or cash or bank draft (not personal cheques). If you can’t pay this at your appointment, we will hold filing until we have the $110.
We file the Petition for Divorce and once we have it back from the Registrar’s Office, we will notify you. You will then decide if you want us to hire a process server to serve your ex (costs of process server are separate from the $907.35 and can range from $75 to $250 plus tax). You may also have a friend or other person serve the Petition on your behalf and deal with them directly about whether a fee will be charged.
If you have a friend or other person serve the Petition for Divorce, he or she MUST come to our office and sign an Affidavit of Service swearing to the date, time, and place of service. This is a fundamental step and if we do not have a signed Affidavit of Service, your divorce will go nowhere. The person who serves must call ahead and bring photo ID to prove identify and be over 19 years of age.
Your ex has 20 days to respond if served in NB. During that period, we wait for your Clearance Certificate from Ottawa. Once we have the Clearance Certificate, we will call you to come in and sign your Affidavit for Divorce – 15 minute appointment maximum. We then will file the last of the paperwork requesting that a Divorce Judgment be issued to you. Once we have it from the Court, we will give you your final package. We do not mail final packages. You must pick it up or arrange pick up.
Then, 31 days after the effective date of the Divorce Judgment, you may have us request a Certificate of Divorce and if you have us do so, the cost is $15.00 which is separate from the $907.35 and is paid to the government. You may pay this by e-transfer to legalbills@jdonovanlaw.ca, or cash or bank draft (not personal cheques). This step is optional but you cannot remarry without the Certificate of Divorce.
And, that’s it 🙂
[Please note if your ex files documents in response to the Petition for Divorce after being served, your divorce will no longer qualify for the simplified process and more fees will be due paid. The simplified process requires that your ex not file or do anything but accept service of the Petition for Divorce. You may elect to represent yourself if your ex does something that disqualifies your divorce from the simplified process done easy.]
J. Donovan Law Group