Canadian Family Law by Province: A Practical Guide

Family law in Canada splits along a federal-provincial line: divorce itself is one national law, but what happens to your property, and often whether you have any claim on your partner's property at all, depends entirely on which province or territory you live in.

Federal Law vs. Provincial Law: Who Governs What

Canadian family law is split between two levels of government, and mixing them up is the single most common mistake people make when researching their own situation.

The federal Divorce Act governs three things, and only for married spouses: the divorce itself, spousal support, and parenting arrangements (decision-making responsibility, parenting time, and contact orders). It applies the same way in every province and territory.

Division of family property is provincial or territorial, full stop. The Divorce Act does not divide property. Each province has its own statute: Ontario's Family Law Act (equalization of net family property for married spouses), British Columbia's Family Law Act (direct division of family property), and Quebec's Civil Code concept of patrimoine familial (family patrimony). Common-law (unmarried) couples fall under provincial law entirely, for both support and property, since the federal Divorce Act only applies to married spouses.

Child support is available under either track. Married parents can address it within a divorce proceeding under the Divorce Act and the Federal Child Support Guidelines, while separating parents who were never married use their province's child support guidelines, which largely mirror the federal ones. See our Canada child support guide and the Canada Child Support Calculator for the amounts.

What "Common Law" Actually Means, By Province

There is no single, national definition of a common-law relationship in Canada. Each province sets its own cohabitation threshold, and, critically, whether that status brings spousal support rights, property rights, both, or neither. Treating "common law" as one uniform status across the country is the fastest way to get Canadian family law wrong.

British Columbia is the most generous province for common-law partners, extending close to the same property division rights that married spouses have after just two years of marriage-like cohabitation. Alberta followed a similar path for adult interdependent partners starting in 2020. Ontario sits in the middle: common-law partners can claim support, but not a share of property through equalization, which remains reserved for married spouses.

Quebec is the clear outlier. In Quebec (Attorney General) v A, 2013 SCC 5 (often called the "Eric v Lola" case), the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Quebec's choice to exclude de facto spouses from the province's spousal support and property regimes. That remains the law today. Quebec's 2025 parental union reform under Bill 56, in force since June 30, 2025, created a new property regime for unmarried parents of a child born on or after that date, but it did not create spousal support rights for de facto spouses. Never assume common-law partners nationwide have "the same rights as married couples." In most of Canada, they do not, and the specifics depend on the province and on what you're asking about, support or property.

Getting Divorced in Canada

Under Divorce Act section 8, there is only one ground for divorce: breakdown of the marriage. You establish breakdown one of three ways: living separate and apart for at least one year, adultery, or physical or mental cruelty. The one-year separation route is by far the most common path, and you can file the application before the year is up, though the divorce cannot be granted until the full year has passed. You do not need to move out to be considered separated; spouses can live separate and apart under the same roof if they are functioning as separate households.

You also need a residency connection: at least one spouse must have been ordinarily resident in the province where you file for at least one year before filing (Divorce Act section 3).

Divorces can be uncontested (both spouses agree on everything) or contested, and a joint application is available when both spouses agree to divorce together. "Corollary relief" is the legal term for the support and parenting orders that typically accompany a divorce. Before granting a divorce, the court must be satisfied that reasonable arrangements have been made for the support of any children of the marriage. A divorce becomes final 31 days after the judge grants it; only after that waiting period can the court issue a Certificate of Divorce.

See our dedicated guides: Divorce in Canada, Divorce in Ontario, and Divorce in BC.

Spousal Support and the SSAG

Spousal support for married spouses flows from Divorce Act section 15.2. A court must first decide whether a spouse is entitled to support at all, on a compensatory basis (for economic disadvantage caused by the relationship or its breakdown), a non-compensatory or needs-based basis, or a contractual basis. Only after entitlement is established does the amount and duration analysis begin.

That is where the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG) come in, and this is worth being precise about: the SSAG are advisory, not law. They are not a statute or regulation, unlike the binding Federal Child Support Guidelines. No court is required to follow them, and departures happen regularly. Courts use the SSAG as a reasonableness check on the outcome of the section 15.2 analysis, not as a substitute for it.

The SSAG offer two formulas. The "without child support" formula suggests an amount between 1.5% and 2% of the gross income difference between spouses for each year of cohabitation, capped at 50%, with a suggested duration of 0.5 to 1 year of support for each year of cohabitation. Support duration becomes indefinite (subject to review) once cohabitation reaches 20 years, or earlier under the "rule of 65," where the years of cohabitation plus the recipient's age at separation add up to 65 or more, provided the marriage lasted at least 5 years. The "with child support" formula is based on each spouse's individual net disposable income and is considerably more complex, generally requiring specialized software to calculate.

Our Canada Spousal Support Calculator can help you estimate a possible SSAG range, and our dedicated spousal support guide walks through entitlement and the formulas in more detail. Remember: a calculator output is an estimate under an advisory tool, not a legal entitlement.

Parenting Time and Decision-Making Responsibility

Since amendments to the Divorce Act took effect on March 1, 2021 (Bill C-78), Canadian federal family law no longer uses the terms "custody" and "access." Courts now use "decision-making responsibility" (authority over major decisions like health care, education, and religion) and "parenting time" (the schedule of when a child is in each parent's care). For people who are not the child's parent, such as grandparents, the Act provides for "contact orders" instead.

The 2021 amendments also codified a detailed list of best-interests-of-the-child factors under section 16 and added notice requirements for a parent planning to relocate with a child. Older documents and older court orders may still use "custody" and "access," and readers researching pre-2021 case law will see those terms, but current filings should use the modern terminology. See our parenting time and decision-making guide for the full breakdown.

Dividing Property When a Relationship Ends

As covered above, property division is exclusively provincial. Ontario's Family Law Act uses "equalization of net family property," a calculation that compares what each married spouse was worth at the date of marriage and the date of separation, with the spouse who gained more paying the other roughly half the difference. British Columbia's Family Law Act instead directly divides "family property" between spouses (married or, since 2013, common-law spouses of 2+ years) roughly equally, subject to arguments for an unequal division. Quebec's patrimoine familial (family patrimony) rules apply only to married or civil-union spouses, not de facto couples, with narrow exceptions now created by the 2025 Bill 56 parental union regime. Alberta's Family Property Act, since January 1, 2020, extends the province's property division framework to adult interdependent partners as well as married spouses.

Full detail is in our property division guide.

Separation Agreements

Many couples resolve support, property, and parenting issues without going to court, through a separation agreement, which is a type of domestic contract. To hold up, a separation agreement generally needs to be in writing, signed, and witnessed, and it needs full financial disclosure from both people. Independent legal advice (ILA) for each spouse, while not always mandatory, makes an agreement much harder to challenge later.

Courts can and do set agreements aside. In Rick v Brandsema, 2009 SCC 10, the Supreme Court of Canada emphasized that material non-disclosure and unfair bargaining conduct can unwind an agreement, even one that was signed with legal advice. In Miglin v Miglin, 2003 SCC 24, the Court set out the framework for when a Divorce Act support waiver in a separation agreement will, and will not, be upheld. See our separation agreements guide for what a durable agreement needs to include.

Changing Your Name After Divorce or Separation

Name changes are governed by each province's Change of Name Act (or equivalent), not the Divorce Act. Requirements typically include proof of residency, identification, often a police record check, a fee, and in some provinces publication of the change. A person who took a spouse's surname on marriage can usually simply "assume" their birth surname again, or their former surname, without a formal legal name change, though the exact process again varies by province.

Quebec is a notable exception: it does not permit a person to change their surname simply because they married, and legal name changes there go through the Directeur de l'état civil under narrower grounds than most other provinces. We describe how the process generally works in each province; we do not complete or file name-change paperwork. See our guides: Name Change in Canada and Name Change in Ontario.

Related Guides in This Cluster

• Divorce in Canada
• Divorce in Ontario
• Divorce in BC
• Separation Agreements in Canada
• Common-Law Relationships in Canada
• Common Law in Ontario
• Common Law in Alberta
• Spousal Support in Canada
• Parenting Time and Decision-Making
• Dividing Property on Divorce
• Name Change in Canada
• Emancipation in Canada
• Restraining Orders in Canada (What We Have Instead)
• Grandparents' Rights in Canada
• Grandparents' Rights in Ontario
• Grandparents' Rights in Alberta
• Grandparents' Rights in BC
• Getting an Ontario Divorce Certificate
• Name Change in Ontario

Also see our Canada child support guide, the Canada Spousal Support Calculator, the Canada Child Support Calculator, and the main Canada legal hub.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Canadian family law and is not legal advice. Family law varies by province and by individual circumstances. Consult a licensed family law lawyer in your province before making decisions about your own case.