The Divorce Act Changes Explained

Miscellaneous

Regulations – Central registry of divorce proceedings
(Section 26(1)(a), Divorce Act)

New section

Paragraphs 26(1)(a) and (b) of the Act are replaced by the following:

(a) respecting the establishment, mandate and operation of a central registry of divorce proceedings;
Old section

Regulations

26 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying the purposes and provisions of this Act into effect and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations

(a) respecting the establishment and operation of a

central registry of divorce proceedings in Canada; and

What is the change

The amendment allows for regulations respecting the mandate of the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings (CRDP).

Reason for the change

The CRDP helps courts determine whether they have jurisdiction to hear a divorce proceeding by detecting duplicate divorce applications. Canadian courts must register each divorce application they receive with the CRDP and inform the CRDP whenever a divorce is granted or a divorce proceeding is dismissed, discontinued or transferred to another court. The CRDP records this information in its database.

The CRDP sends a clearance certificate to the court when a duplicate divorce proceeding has not been detected. It also notifies the court or courts when it identifies duplicate divorce proceedings.

This amendment allows for the regulations to explicitly set out the mandate of the CRDP in regulations to increase transparency.

When

This provision came into force on June 21, 2019.