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In Canada, all divorces proceed on a "no-fault" basis, regardless of the ground of marriage breakdown relied upon. ''No-fault'', in this context, means that the reasons for marriage breakdown have nothing at all to do with how court deals with issues like parenting children and paying support. No matter how upset you are by your spouse's behaviour, their behaviour will have no impact on how the court resolves the legal issues resulting from your separation.
Most divorces — almost all of them, in fact — are based on separation. The only "advantage" of claiming a divorce based on cruelty or adultery is that your divorce order is available relatively quickly — you needn't wait to be separated for a full year before you can ask for the order. However, the downside of divorces based on cruelty or adultery is that you have to prove that the cruelty or adultery occurred. As you can imagine, not all that many people are prepared to admit that they committed adultery or abused their spouse, and, as a result, divorces based on cruelty or adultery rarely proceed smoothly. In fact, where a court action proceeding has dragged on long enough that more than a year has passed before the case finally comes to court, many judges will refuse to hear evidence of cruelty or adultery and will grant the divorce instead on the basis of separation.
====Separation====
To obtain a divorce based on separation for a period of at least one year, you and your spouse must have lived separate and apart for that year. The period of living separate and apart separation can pass while you are both living under the same roof, however, the marital qualities of you must behave as if your relationship with your spouse must have endedmarriage has come to an end. That usually means stopping sleeping together, stopping doing chores for each other, stopping going out together and so on.
The ''Divorce Act'' provides says that a couple separated spouses can attempt to reconcile and resume married life living together for up to 90 days during this one-year periodwithout stopping the clock on separation as a reason for a divorce order. If the couple live they have lived together for a total period of more than 90 days with since the intention of getting back togetherfirst separation, the clock resets and a new one-year period clock will not start running until after again at the end of the couple separates againlast period in which they lived together as married spouses.
====Adultery====
A spouse who is claiming that the other spouse is guilty of adultery must prove this claim in courtthat the adultery occurred. Before the court will pronounce the order for divorce, the The court must also be satisfied that the party making person asking for the claim has not divorce order hasn't ''condoned'' the adultery or ''connived'' to effect cause the adultery. If the court is not satisfied, it will not grant make the divorceorder.
Proof of adultery normally consists of an affidavit from either your spouse or the person with whom your spouse committed the adulterous acthad sex, admitting to the adultery. You cannot seek ask for a divorce based on your own adulterous conduct.adultery!
Many people will have seen the movie "''Intolerable Cruelty''," which lays puts a great deal lot of emphasis on the punitive consequences of adultery, and suggests that spouses caught with their pants down are going to lose everything they have. That might be true in the USUnited States, but it certainly isn't true in Canada. In Canada, there are no consequences for marital offences of that nature: you won't lose your house, you won't lose the children, and you won't find yourself living in out of a cardboard box. Adultery, while relevant as a ground of divorcereason for marriage breakdown, plays has no role in the court's determination of these those other issues.
====Cruelty====
A spouse who claims that the other spouse is guilty of cruelty must prove their claim in courtthat the cruelty occurred. Cruelty can consist of physical abuse or mental abuse, and may also give rise to a claim for an award of damages as a result of the cruelty. Before the The court will pronounce the divorce order, it must also be satisfied that the party making person asking for the claim has not divorce order hasn't ''condoned'' the cruelty.If the court is not satisfied, it will not make the divorce order
Proof of cruelty normally consists of a medical, psychological, or psychiatric report, or, in some circumstances, a simple letter from a treating professional describing the abuse.
===Conspiracy, connivance and condonationBars to divorce===
The only possible exception to this rule would be if the parent to whom child support is payable cannot be found, and the child support payments therefore cannot be paid. In such circumstances the court may make a divorce order that doesn't refer to child support, or it may make an order that merely refers to the payor's obligation to pay child support without fixing an amount payable.