Step 1: fill out your application and supporting documents

Depending on your case, there are different forms and supporting documents you will need to fill out to start the case.

General application

To start a general application, you need to fill out:

Depending on your circumstances and what you’re asking for, you will also need to prepare:

Simple application

To start a simple application for a divorce only (in other words no property or support claims), you need to prepare:

Joint application

If you and your spouse are asking for a divorce together, you will need to prepare:

  • Form 8A: Application (Divorce)
    • this form must be signed and dated by both you and your spouse
    • bring four copies of this completed form for filing at the courthouse
  • Continuing Record, including a Table of Contents
  • your original marriage certificate
  • Form 36: Affidavit for Divorce
  • Form 25A: Divorce Order
    • write out everything that you and your spouse have agreed on and want included in your final divorce order (for example, child support, parenting time, or decision-making responsibility in respect of children)
    • this form must be typed on a computer, not hand-written and you must bring four copies for filing at the courthouse
  • two business-sized envelopes (9 ½” x 4 ⅛”), each stamped with sufficient postage
    • one addressed to you and one addressed to your spouse
    • the court will mail the order to you and your former spouse
  • other documents you may want to file with your application, such as a separation agreement, minutes of settlement, prior court orders, or Notices of Calculation or Recalculation issued by the Ministry of the Attorney General’s online Child Support Service

If you and your spouse are together asking for orders other than a divorce, you will also need to prepare:

Get help completing your court forms

If you need help filling out you court forms and you don’t have a lawyer, you can:

Learn more about available resources.

Step 2: get your application issued by the court

After you complete all your documents, you have to get them issued by the court. This means that a court clerk:

  • signs and dates your original application and applies the court seal to the form
  • gives you a court file number, which you must write in the box at the top right corner of each page of your forms on every copy

You should make copies of everything that the clerk returns to you in order to serve (in other words, deliver) a copy on the respondent and any other person or agency that needs to be served. Remember to also keep a copy for yourself.

Court filing fees

If you are starting your case at the Superior Court of Justice or the Family Court Branch of the Superior Court of Justice, you may be required to pay a court fee or qualify for a fee waiver. If you’re eligible for a fee waiver, you won’t have to pay most fees. Learn more about fee waivers.

There is no fee to file documents at the Ontario Court of Justice.

Learn more about court filing fees.

First appearance

The clerk will give you a first appearance date if you start your case at the Ontario Court of Justice or the Family Court Branch of the Superior Court of Justice, unless you’re asking for a divorce or making claims related to property.

The Superior Court of Justice does not schedule first appearances when you issue your application. You are responsible for scheduling your first court appearance, which is usually called a case conference.

Learn more about the first appearance.

Mandatory Information Program

In most circumstances, you and the respondent will be required to attend a free Mandatory Information Program (MIP)session. When the clerk issues your application, you will receive two MIP notices – one for you and one for the respondent. You will each be scheduled to attend different MIP sessions.

Learn more about MIP sessions.

Step 3: serve all your documents

If you filed a general or simple application, you must serve the following documents on the respondent:

Someone other than you (who is at least 18 years old) must serve your documents on the respondent (in other words, deliver the documents), using special service.

If a first appearance is scheduled in your case, the respondent must receive your documents with enough time to complete, serve, and file an answer. The respondent must give an answer within:

  • 30 calendar days if they received the application in Canada or the United States
  • 60 calendar days if they received the application outside Canada or the United States

If you and your spouse filed a joint application, no service on the other party is required because you are together asking the court for the same orders (there is no respondent).

Learn more about serving documents in a family case.

Step 4: File Proof of Service

Once you have served your documents, you must complete Form 6B: Affidavit of Service (one for each party in the case that received the documents) and file it at the court where you issued your application. This form provides the court with proof that your documents were served on the respondent and any other party.

Learn more about the proof of service and how to file it.