New Brunswick Has Two Divorce Filing Systems. The Court Doesn't Tell You Which One Applies to You.
Six judicial districts follow Rule 72. Moncton and Saint John follow Rule 81. The forms are different. The service requirements are different. Joint petitions are allowed in one system and completely prohibited in the other. File the wrong form for your district and the clerk rejects your entire package — no refund on your $100 filing fee, no explanation of what went wrong.
PLEIS-NB publishes a free divorce handbook, and it's excellent. But it covers both systems in a single dense document without telling you which pages apply to your courthouse. The national "online divorce" services — $139 to $899 — generate standard Form 72A/B templates regardless of your district. If you're in Moncton or Saint John, those forms are wrong on arrival.
That structural gap between "here's the law" and "here's exactly what to do at your courthouse" is where self-represented filers lose weeks and money. The District-Specific Filing Navigator closes that gap.
The District-Specific Filing Navigator
This is not a document-preparation service. It does not generate forms or collect your personal information. It's the step-by-step operational sequence the court doesn't publish — which forms to complete, what order to file them, which path your case follows based on your judicial district, and every deadline that matters from petition to Certificate of Divorce.
Every chapter is built around New Brunswick's actual procedural rules — the federal Divorce Act, Rule 72, Rule 73, and Rule 81 of the Rules of Court. Not generic Canadian divorce content recycled from a national template.
What You Get
The Complete Filing Process Guide
A 20-chapter guide, a standalone printable checklist, and 7 separate printable worksheets covering the entire process:
- Dual-System Decision Tree — identify your judicial district from all eight (Bathurst, Campbellton, Edmundston, Fredericton, Miramichi, Moncton, Saint John, Woodstock), then follow the correct filing track. Rule 72 filers get the Form 72A/72B path. Rule 81 filers get the Form 81A path. No guessing which forms apply to your courthouse
- Three Filing Paths Mapped — sole petition, joint petition (Rule 72 only), or contested response. Each path gets its own chapter with every form, fee, and deadline spelled out in sequence
- The 5-Day Filing Rule — once your Affidavit of Evidence is sworn before a Commissioner of Oaths, you have exactly 5 days (14 for joint petitions) to file your Trial Record or the affidavit expires and you start that step over. The guide builds a countdown from swearing date to filing deadline
- Clearance Certificate Timeline — the federal database check in Ottawa takes 2–3 months and must be complete before you can compile your Trial Record. The guide tells you exactly when to call your Court Administrator to check, and what to do if the certificate is delayed
- Service Method Guide — personal service by a process server ($75–$250), the Sheriff's Office ($50–$100), or any adult not party to the action. Plus the registered-mail option and exactly when it works (the spouse must sign and return Form 18A Acknowledgment of Receipt)
- Complete Costs Breakdown and Fee Waivers — $100 filing fee, $10 Clearance Certificate, $7 Certificate of Divorce, plus Commissioner of Oaths and process server fees. If you receive assistance under the Family Income Security Act, you may qualify for a complete waiver under Rule 72.24(2)
- The 60-Day Property Deadline — after your divorce takes effect, you have 60 days to file a property division claim under the Marital Property Act. Miss this deadline and you permanently lose your right to equal division. The guide calculates your deadline from the judgment date
- Child Support Tables — how the Federal Child Support Guidelines work in NB, the income-to-payment lookup, and the specific documentation a judge reviews during the desk review when children are involved
- All 8 Judicial District Offices — complete contact details, physical addresses, phone numbers, and filing instructions for every courthouse in the province
7 Standalone Printable Worksheets
Separate PDFs you can print individually and bring to appointments, pin on your wall, or hand to your process server:
- Dual-System Decision Tree — identifies your district and correct filing path on one page
- Critical Deadline Tracker — fillable worksheet for the 5-day rule, 60-day property deadline, and 31-day appeal period
- Service Methods Guide — four legal service options with costs and proof requirements
- Courthouse Directory — all 8 offices with addresses, phone numbers, and when to call
- Costs Breakdown — every fee plus fee waiver eligibility and a personal cost estimator
- Trial Record Assembly Checklist — documents in exact filing order for your Commissioner of Oaths appointment
- Filing Timeline — 13-stage overview with date-tracking columns
Quick-Start Checklist (Free Download)
A printable 1-page overview of the New Brunswick divorce filing sequence — residency rules, the dual-court system decision, key deadlines, and what documents to gather before you start. Enough to see the full picture and decide whether you need the complete guide.
Who This Is For
- You and your spouse agree on most or all terms and want to handle the paperwork without a $1,200–$2,300 attorney retainer
- Your mediator delivered the separation agreement and told you to file the desk divorce paperwork independently — but didn't explain which court system your district uses
- You downloaded blank forms from the Attorney General's portal and discovered there's no filing sequence, no deadline tracker, and no explanation of what happens after you mail the petition to Fredericton
- You're in Moncton or Saint John and need to understand Rule 81's sole-application requirement before you waste time preparing the wrong forms
- You sit just above the Legal Aid income threshold and cannot afford a lawyer, but still need a structured path through the court's requirements
Why Free Resources and $499 Document Services Don't Solve This
PLEIS-NB's "Doing Your Own Divorce" handbook is thorough, authoritative, and free. It covers everything — but in 60+ pages of legal prose without interactive checklists, deadline trackers, or a clear "do this next" sequence. It's a textbook. This guide is the workbook.
National document-preparation services (Untie the Knot at $499–$899, DivorceFiller at $139–$179, LegalZoom at $499+) generate form packages through a questionnaire. They produce paperwork. They don't tell you that e-filing doesn't exist in New Brunswick. They don't explain why your joint petition will be rejected in Saint John. They don't track the 5-day window between swearing your affidavit and filing your Trial Record. And they don't warn you about the 60-day property deadline that permanently extinguishes your division rights.
This guide costs — less than a single hour of a New Brunswick family lawyer's time. One purchase, instant download, no subscription. You keep it for your entire case.
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
If the guide doesn't give you a clear, usable path through New Brunswick's divorce filing process, email [email protected] and we'll make it right — no hoops, no time limit.
— Less Than One Hour of Legal Time
A typical New Brunswick family law attorney charges $345–$350 per hour. An uncontested flat-fee filing runs $907–$2,300. This guide gives you the complete filing sequence for both court systems, deadline trackers, cost breakdowns with fee waiver instructions, and district-specific courthouse details — for a fraction of a single billable hour.