Ontario Divorce Filing Fees

The mandatory court fees for an uncontested divorce in Ontario total $694. That number is fixed by regulation — it does not change based on whether you use a lawyer or file on your own. What does change is everything you spend on top of it: notary fees, process servers, certified translations, and professional services.

Here is every cost in the sequence, so you can budget the full amount before you file.

Court Fees

Ontario's divorce filing fees are split across three separate payments, each due at a different stage:

The $224 application fee consists of a $214 provincial fee plus a mandatory $10 federal levy that funds the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings (CRDP) in Ottawa.

All fees are payable electronically through the Ontario Courts Public Portal (Toronto) or Family Submissions Online (rest of Ontario).

Additional Costs

Beyond the court fees, these expenses come up for most self-represented filers:

Notary / Commissioner fees. Form 36 (Affidavit for Divorce) and Form 6B (Affidavit of Service) must be sworn in front of a commissioner for taking affidavits. You can do this for free at the family court counter, or pay approximately $21 per document to a private notary. Budget $0 to $42.

Process server. In a simple (sole) divorce, a third party must serve the respondent under Rule 6. You can ask a friend or family member over 18 to do it for free, or hire a professional process server. Professional process servers in Ontario typically charge $75 to $200, depending on location and the number of attempts needed.

Certified translation. If your marriage certificate is not in English or French, you need a certified translation from a member of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario (ATIO). This usually costs $50 to $150.

Replacement marriage certificate. If you have lost your original, ServiceOntario charges a fee for a replacement copy.

Realistic Cost Range

A joint divorce avoids process-server costs because both spouses sign the application and there is no service requirement. A simple divorce can also have no service cost if a friend or family member serves for free.

Fee Waiver Options

If you cannot afford the filing fees, Ontario's Administration of Justice Act provides two pathways:

Form FW-A-3: Request to Registrar. This is the automatic pathway. If your household income, liquid assets, and net worth fall below the provincial thresholds, the registrar issues a Fee Waiver Certificate on the spot. The current thresholds (updated by O. Reg. 548/22) for a single-person household are $33,100 gross annual income, $2,800 in liquid assets, and $11,100 in net worth. You also qualify automatically if your primary income source is Ontario Works, ODSP, CPP, or OAS/GIS, or if you hold a current Legal Aid Ontario certificate.

Form FW-A-4: Request to Court. If your income exceeds the automatic limits or the registrar denies your request, a judge can grant a waiver based on a holistic review of your financial hardship. This pathway is reviewed by a judge when the automatic criteria do not capture the full picture.

A fee waiver covers all court filing fees for the case — Stage One, Stage Two, and the Certificate of Divorce.

Compared to Using a Lawyer

Senior family lawyers in Ontario charge $400 to $800 per hour. A fully contested divorce can cost $15,000 to $50,000 or more in legal fees. Even flat-fee uncontested divorce services start at $300 for basic document preparation and go up to $799 or more for full processing — on top of the $694 in court fees.

Filing on your own keeps the cost to the court fees plus a few hundred dollars in incidentals. The tradeoff is your time and the risk of clerk rejections if you make procedural errors.

The Ontario Divorce Filing Process Guide helps bridge that gap — a pre-filing validation checklist, continuing record setup instructions, and the complete forms sequence for a fraction of what a flat-fee legal service charges.

See more Ontario guides →