If you are looking for quick information on how to serve divorce papers in Greater Toronto Area (GTA), then you have come to the right place. Meanwhile, let us first loot at the nitty-gritty of serving divorce papers – things you need to know about Process Serving.
What “Serving Divorce Papers” means
When an individual is “served” with papers, they have been notified of a case opened against them in court. And in the event of seeking a divorce, the person is notified that divorce proceedings have been started.
Eligibility for divorce
Before a person decides to file for a divorce, they must consider the following:
- That they are legally married to the person.
- That there is no possibility for reconciliation.
- That the individual and their spouse have been residing in Ontario for at least a year before filing for divorce.
Why is it important to serve divorce papers?
The reason why it is so important to serve divorce papers is because it is for a person to prove that the person they are calling to court is aware of the upcoming legal proceedings, it would be unfair to the spouse if they did not catch wind of what is going to happen,
How To Serve Divorce Papers In Greater Toronto Area?
The lawmakers in Ontario
Where the Greater Toronto Area is situated – have passed legislation concerning how a legally married individual can file for a divorce. There are several methods available for couples seeking a divorce.
Option 1 – Apply yourself
You can file for a divorce online through the Ontario website. Be sure to read the instructions in other to determine your eligibility before you proceed to apply. After applying you may need to serve the divorce paper on your partner.
In Ontario you can’t serve divorce paper yourself (you can’t hand deliver the documents to your partner). You are required by law to hire a professional process server in GTA to serve the documents on your behalf. If you can’t hire a process server in the GTA, you may ask a third party (someone who is not involve in the court proceeding) to serve the divorce papers on your behalf.
Option 2 – Paralegal or Lawyer
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of filing for the divorce yourself. You may hire the service of a paralegal or lawyer to do it for you. This option will cost you some money but it is worth it, because the lawyer or paralegal may counsel you on certain aspects you may not be aware of.
Option 3 – Joint divorce
Assuming you and your partner have agreed to divorce. You and your partner may start the application for a divorce and then hire a paralegal or lawyer to continue the process on your behalf. An individual seeking divorce can send a duplicate of the documents through mail to their spouse’s lawyer. In the case of the spouse not having a lawyer.
Couriers can also be utilized to send documents. The courier can bring the papers to the partner’s lawyer.
Document exchange is also used to serve documents, in which a person can upload the divorce papers, and a lawyer can copy it. A person can send the divorce papers to their partner’s attorney. In the absence of a lawyer, but the spouse has a membership on the platform, they can be served directly through the exchange.
What happens if the spouse tries to avoid service of documents?
If a spouse does not wish to appear in court for a divorce, they will try everything to evade the possibility of appearing in court, and that includes escaping to faraway destinations. In that case, you may have to hire a skip tracer in Toronto to locate their current address. If you are unable to locate your partner the judge can grant you a “substituted service”.
A substituted service is another way of serving legal documents. For this to be carried out, the documents are handed over to someone else, so they can pass the files on to the spouse however possible, and copies of the documents are also sent through the mail.
The partner can also be emailed the divorce papers, again, either their lawyer can receive them on their behalf or if they do not have one then directly to them.
Lastly, it is also plausible to send the papers through fax, again to the partner’s lawyer – and in case they do not have one but have access to a machine – then directly to them.
Closing thoughts
I hope this article on how to serve divorce papers in Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has answered any questions you may have about serving divorce papers in the Greater Toronto Area. For more information on serving