DIVORCE IN ALBERTA

When there are no disputes or outstanding issues in the divorce, and you can ensure your spouse will not contest the divorce, then an uncontested divorce (also known as a "desk divorce") will be filed within the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench; In this case, neither party has to make a court appearance. 

If there are children of the marriage, the divorce will enforce orders for custody, child support and parenting arrangements. 

If yourself, a spouse, or third-party has initiated a divorce but it has not been finalized, or it is at a stand-still, then we can complete the process for you. We will need to obtain the documents filed within the courts to fully identify the outstanding areas in order to finalize the divorce. 

If you cannot obtain the court filed documents, we can do this on your behalf.

In the situation where you have not been in touch with your spouse or do not know of your spouse's contact information, we can complete a search of them. If we find some sort of contact information for your spouse, we will obtain a court order to grant us a substitutional method of service. If we cannot obtain a source of contact, we will have to obtain an order to "dispute service" upon your spouse. 

If your spouse is located outside of Alberta or Canada, we can obtain a court order which will allow us to serve your spouse with the divorce documents in an alternative method. If you do not have any contact information of your spouse, we can perform a search of them; if no information can be found, we then obtain an order to "dispute service" upon your spouse.

1.  If you have been served with a statement of claim and you do not agree to the remedies being sought, and/or you have further claims to seek, then we can assist with the preparation, filing and serving of a defence/counterclaim.

2.  If you have been served with a statement of defence, we can review the document and discuss options for moving forward with the divorce.

In these situations, the divorce becomes contested, and we can refer you to a qualified Experienced divorce lawyer in Calgary, Alberta.

If you have attempted to serve documents but have been unsuccessful, or if serving the documents is not possible, you can request a substitutional service order from the court. The court may use a different method of serving legal documents, called a substitutional service order, if you provide sufficient evidence in your application to support it. This method must be approved by the court and differs from the methods outlined in the Rules of Court.

If you have permission through a substitutional service order from the court, there are different methods you can use to serve someone. 

To clarify, when requesting a substitutional service, it is important to explain how that service will ensure that the intended recipient receives the documents.

For example, a substitutional service order could grant your permission to serve someone through the following methods:

• a family friend, or close acquaintance of the defendant;
• Social media, such as Facebook & Instagram; or
• An ad in the newspaper;

When attempting to serve legal documents to a defendant, it is important that you exhaust all possible avenues of locating them before turning to a substitutional service order. This means that you must make a serious and concerted effort to locate the person in a normal way, such as through personal service or certified mail.

If you are unable to locate the defendant through these traditional channels, you may be able to secure a substitutional service order by presenting evidence to the court that you have made a real and diligent effort to find them. This evidence can take many forms, but one of the most effective methods is through a phone directory search.

A phone directory search involves scouring local and national phone directories for any listings that match the name or address of the defendant. This can be a time-consuming and laborious process, but it is often necessary in order to demonstrate to the court that you have made a good-faith effort to locate the individual.

Ultimately, the key to securing a substitutional service order is to demonstrate to the court that you have made every reasonable effort to locate the defendant and that your efforts have been unsuccessful.