What Happens After Filing for Divorce in Ontario

You have filed your Form 8A, paid the $224 Stage One fee, and the court has issued your application with a file number and seal. Now what?

The post-filing phase of an Ontario divorce is a series of sequential administrative steps — service, waiting periods, a federal clearance check, a second filing, and a desk review by a judge. None of them require a courtroom appearance for an uncontested divorce, but each has specific deadlines and form requirements. Missing any of them stalls your case.

Step 1: Serve the Respondent

If you filed a simple (sole) divorce, you must serve the respondent with the issued application. Under Rule 6 of the Family Law Rules, this requires Special Service — you cannot hand the papers to your spouse yourself.

The service package includes your issued Form 8A, a Continuing Record Table of Contents, a blank Form 10: Answer, and Form 6: Acknowledgement of Service.

Service must be completed within six months of the application being issued.

If you filed a joint divorce, skip this step entirely — both spouses already signed the application.

Step 2: The Answer Period

After service, the clock starts on the respondent's right to file a Form 10: Answer:

• 30 days if served within Canada
• 60 days if served in the United States
• 90 days if served anywhere else

If You Received Divorce Papers

If you are the respondent and were just served, you have three choices:

Do nothing. If the answer period expires without a response, you are noted in default. This means you lose the right to participate in the rest of the proceedings and will not receive notice of future steps. The applicant can proceed to the judgment stage without your participation. For a straightforward, uncontested divorce where you agree to the divorce, doing nothing is a valid choice — it lets the process continue without requiring any action from you.

File a Form 10: Answer. This formally responds to the application. You can agree with the divorce but dispute specific claims (like the separation date or support amounts), or you can dispute the divorce entirely. Filing an Answer converts the case from uncontested to contested, which changes the timeline, cost, and complexity dramatically.

File an Answer with a counter-claim. If you want to raise your own claims — for property division, spousal support, or parenting time — you can file a Form 10 that includes those claims. This is common when the applicant filed a divorce-only application but you need financial or parenting issues resolved as part of the same case.

Step 3: File Proof of Service

Once the answer period has passed, the person who served the documents (not you) must swear Form 6B: Affidavit of Service before a commissioner for taking affidavits — available for free at any Ontario family court counter, or approximately $21 at a private notary.

Upload the sworn Form 6B along with Form 36A: Certificate of Clerk (Divorce) through the same portal you used to file the application. Form 36A asks the registrar to confirm that no Answer was filed.

Step 4: CRDP Clearance (Runs in the Background)

Within 7 days of your initial filing, the court registry sends your case information to the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings (CRDP) in Ottawa. The CRDP searches its national database to confirm no other active divorce proceedings exist between you and your spouse anywhere in Canada.

The Clearance Certificate typically comes back in 4 to 6 weeks. Your divorce cannot proceed to judicial review until this certificate is in the court file. Because this step starts at the time of your initial filing, it usually runs in parallel with service and the answer period — but if your service was quick, you may be waiting on Ottawa even after proof of service is filed.

Step 5: Submit the Judgment Package ($445)

Once you have proof of service filed and the CRDP clearance in hand, you submit the Stage Two package:

• Form 36: Affidavit for Divorce — sworn before a commissioner or notary. This is where you provide sworn statements about the separation date, any children, support arrangements, and the status of the marriage. Any name discrepancies between Form 8A and the marriage certificate must be explained here.
• Form 25A: Divorce Order — a typed draft of the order you are asking the judge to sign. Must be typed, not handwritten.
• Two stamped, self-addressed business envelopes — one addressed to each spouse. The court uses these to mail certified copies of the signed order.

Pay the $445 Stage Two filing fee through the portal.

Step 6: Judicial Desk Review

A judge reviews your entire file in chambers. For uncontested divorces, no court appearance is scheduled. The judge checks:

• That the residency requirement is met
• That the ground for divorce is properly established
• That child support arrangements (if applicable) comply with the Federal Child Support Guidelines
• That all forms are correctly completed and consistent

If everything is in order, the judge signs Form 25A. If there are errors — incomplete child support documentation, inconsistent names, missing forms — the judge sends the file back with directions for correction.

Court staff mail a certified copy of the signed Divorce Order to each spouse using the envelopes you provided.

Step 7: The 31-Day Wait

The signed Divorce Order does not take effect immediately. Under federal law, it becomes legally effective on the 31st day after the judge signs it. This is a mandatory statutory appeal window — neither party can waive it or shorten it.

During this 31-day period, either party can file an appeal. In practice, appeals of uncontested divorces are extremely rare.

Step 8: Certificate of Divorce

After day 31, file Form 36B: Certificate of Divorce and pay the $25 fee. The Certificate of Divorce is the document you need if you want to remarry. The Divorce Order alone is not sufficient proof for a marriage license application.

Timeline Summary

For an uncontested simple divorce, the post-filing sequence typically takes 4 to 6 months from the day you file. The main time blocks are the answer period (30+ days), CRDP clearance (4 to 6 weeks), the desk review queue (which varies by courthouse), and the 31-day appeal period.

The Ontario Divorce Filing Process Guide walks through each post-filing step with the exact forms, deadlines, and common error traps — including the Form 36 affidavit details that judges most frequently flag for correction.

See more Ontario guides →