WESTSIDE FAMILY LAW - How and Where to Divorce?

MARRIED IN BC BUT LIVING OUTSIDE BC?

You divorce where you live or "reside" provided that you have resided in your current country and province for the length of time required by the local law to give the local Court jurisdiction (authority) to make an Order for divorce.

You will require a governemnt-issued official Marriage Certificate from the BC Department of Vital Certificates, ordered on-line using your credit is usually the quickest and most cost-effective method.

You CANNOT obtain a divorce in B.C. unless at least one of the two married persons has lived in BC for 12-months immediately preceding the filing of the claim for a divorce. This requirement is in the Divorce Act (Canada). At least one party has to live here and that person can be either the claimant for divorce or the respondent.

If you live in Tanzania and your spouse lives in Vancouver, BC, then you can retain a BC lawyer to complete your divorce here in BC based on the residence requirement: only one party has to live in BC.

WHAT TYPE OF RESIDENCY MEETS THE TEST?

The test is simple: Does one person "ordinarily reside in BC?" You or your married spouse can be in BC as a student, a visiting professor, a contract employee working in BC under a 12-month contract. You just have to establish that he or she is "ordinarily resident" her for the 12-months before fifling the claim for divorce.

This does not require full-time residence here. This does not require that one of you pays income taxes here but this is one of the criteria that might determine "residency."

This does not require full-time residence here after the Claim of divorce is issued and served. "Ordinary residence" is a subjective test, meaning there is flexibility in it and each case will be slightly different.

If you ask yourself: "Does one of us live in BC?" and the answer is "yes" then you are likely "resident" in BC sufficient to obtain a divorce through the BC Supreme Court.

MARRIED ELSEWHERE BUT LIVING IN BC?

You can obtain a divorce in BC if you live here or your spouse lives here, for the 12-month period immediately preceding the filing of the Notice of Family Law Claim for divorce.

You will need - without exception - proof of marriage satisfactory to the Registrar. If the Registrar is not satisfied with the marriage record you provide, then you can apply to a Judge for an Order that the records are satisfactory proof of marriage. This is a difficult argument tomake: you have to prove you are married and prove that the records you have provided are the ONLY RECORDS available (such as the entire marriage records were destroyed in a catastrophy or you are legally excluded from obtaining your marriage records).

Obtain the ORIGINAL government authority-issued records AT SOURCE: if you were married in a tiny little town in the mountains of Italy, and the only record of your marriage registration is there and only the Mayor can certify the records, then YES: you have to go back there, and get the Mayor to issue and certify your marriage registration.

Obtaining proof of marriage is simple for persons married in jurisdictions that have central record keeping of all births, deaths and marriages. These jurisdictions issue Marriage Certificates (just like birth and death certificates).

YOU CANNOT GET DIVORCED WITHOUT SURRENDERING THE ORIGINAL MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE TO THE COURT REGISTRY BEFORE APPLYING FOR THE DIVORCE ORDER.

Usually, you file the Marriage Certificate with your Claim for Divorce. In emergency situations, you can obtain an exemption from this requirement and file it later.

TIMING: BC has two types of divorce: "no fault" requires 12-months separate and apart although this can be accomplished by the married partners continuing to live as roommates in the same house.

Then there the seond type of divorce based on cruelty or adultery and that allows a shorter wait time for the divorce Order to issue but the procedures are more complex and more costly than the simpler "no fault" route.

SAME SEX MARRIAGES AND HOW TO GET DIVORCED WHEN THE JURISDICTION YOU LIVE IN DOES NOT RECOGNIZE SAME SEX MARRIAGES?

This is tough situation to be in. The simple answer is you have to establish residency in a jurisdiction that does recognize same sex marriages. At least one of the married spouses has to live for a sufficient time period to establish legal jurisdiction and residency in a place that legally recognizes same sex marriages. You may have to move and re-establish residency in a new state, province or country.

My thought on the matter is: come join us here in Canada and contribute your energies, resources to Canada and enjoy BC for a 12-month or more period and get your divorce here.