PR after divorce

[Martin29]

If divorce is uncontested then lawyer fees is not expensive.If its contested then lawyer fee become expensive.Good divorce lawyer charge $600 an hour in Toronto.Lawyer who charge less wont be that good.Free lawyers are available for low income people but you have to wait in a long queue before your turn comes.

You will get spousal support only if you contest.

In Canada for Contested divorce the assets and debts of a couple are divided equally between husband and wife.So if you are planning to contest make sure he have assets not liability.Otherwise you will end up in paying his liability.

You wont get spousal support if he is not financially sound.Spousal support is a temporary financial support given by financially sound spouse to financially struggling spouse.Its not permanent.Once you get financially settled it will stop.


If he files for divorce and you don't contest you have 0 expense but no financial gain.

If you contest then you have to pay for a lawyer and may or may not get financial benefits.It depends on his income and assets.

 

[Lammawitch]

Martin29,

A lot of your information is confused, or incorrect , which may cause unnecessary stress and worry to the OP.

There are excellent free or low cost legal resources in all provinces.

One does NOT have to contest a divorce to obtain spousal support.

Divorce in Canada comes under provincial jurisdiction, so the procedures vary from one province to the next.

To the OP, if you were a dependent on your spouse's PR application, a divorce will not affect your PR. If you are not sure, look at your COPR/PR card: does it have 51 under "conditions"? If not, divorce will not affect your PR, if it does, then you are subject to the 2 year cohabitation after landing rule.

 

[Martin29]

In Canada divorce are either uncontested or contested.Uncontested divorce is simple and less expensive.In uncontested one spouse sue the other for divorce.The divorce agreement copy will be send to the other spouse The other spouse don't respond in 30 days and judge will give divorce in favor of the first spouse.All the demands in the divorce agreement will be granted.Second spouse wont get spousal support even if he/she deserves because he/she didn't object.Second spouse may also end up paying money to the first if it is there in the agreement.

The lawyer charge for the first spouse will be small and second spouse don't need a lawyer or pay any thing.

For uncontested divorce you don't need an expert lawyer.Some lawyer charge just around $1000 for whole process.

Contested divorce is complicated and may take long time.In contested divorce one spouse sue the other for divorce and send him/her a copy of the divorce agreement.Second spouse contest the divorce .It may be because he/she either don't want a divorce or have objection with the conditions in divorce agreement.Second spouse should hire a lawyer to contest the divorce.Then lawyers will argue for their client.Both lawyers want to protect the interest of their client.So some times it may be long.Some goes to even 100 lawyer hours.So lawyer fee increase.

If there are assets to divide it gets more complicated.Under the law all assets and liability during the matrimonial period should be equally divided.That may not be acceptable for both.Finally at some stage both parties agree and then judge gives divorce.

Judge may not order a spousal support just because one claim for that.He will check the income of both spouse before making a decision.Normally if one spouse have high income and other have very low income then only judge will order for spousal support.

If you are 100%sure your spouse wont contest then you can hire a lawyer with small fee.But if you are sure or have doubts that he/she will contest then you have to hire a good lawyer.So that you will win the case.