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→Separation and divorce
Under section 8(1) of the ''[[Divorce Act]]'', there is only one reason, or ''ground'', why the court can make a divorce order: marriage breakdown. Under section 8(2), there are three ways to prove that a marriage has in fact broken down:
Almost all claims for divorce in Canada are based on separation. It doesn't imply that one spouse did anything bad or was more responsible for the end of the relationship than the other spouse. Claims for divorce based on adultery or cruelty, on the other hand, do exactly that. As a result, if it winds up taking a year or more from the date of separation for the court to hear and decide a claim for divorce based on adultery or cruelty, the court will often grant the divorce on the basis of separation instead.