Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings

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The legal process of divorce in the United States of America lies under the province of state government. Divorce laws varies from state to state in this country. Apart from the processes to be followed by the individual filing for a divorce, the courts are also liable to follow certain rules and regulations. Each court in Canada handling several divorce cases are supposed to notify the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings (CRDP) about all applications that have been filed with them over a period of time. CDRP maintains all records of pending divorce proceedings from July 1968 till date in a database and is run by the Department of Justice, Canada. Central Registry also prevents any form of duplicate divorce proceedings.

A spouse may want to find out whether his/her partner has filed for a divorce and may be unsure of the location where it was filed. The Registry may help such a person by giving necessary information. If proper details are provided with full name of the spouse, date of birth and date of marriage, the Central Registry can give the following information:

• Case file
• Court location
• Reference file number
• Date when divorce proceedings started
• Date from when divorce became effective

Regulations regarding establishment of Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings

• The address of this registry is as follows:
  • Department of Justice, P.O. Box 2730, Postal Station D, Ottawa ON K1P 5W7
• Phone number: (613) 957-4519
• This registry retains records of pending divorce proceedings in Canada. The information that is submitted at the registry in registration forms is maintained

Regulations regarding operation of Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings

• Let us assume that a person has filed an application of divorce in the court of law. The registrar of the court wherein the application has been filed should demand for the filing fee as stipulated in the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings Fee Order

• Further, this registrar should allocate a number to the application. This number is called as divorce registry number. The registrar should refer to the previous application and allocate the next number to the current application

• The registrar must complete Part 1 of the registration form. Then, he/she should forward this Part to the Central Registry by electronic means or mail

• After the officer of the Central Registry receives Part 1, he/she should ascertain if the divorce registry number is in numerical sequence. If not, then this officer must advise the registrar of the court regarding this issue in written form. The officer should also mention that within 7 days the central registry must be forwarded the following:
  • The reason why the divorce registry number is not in sequence, or
  • The missing forms

• Then, this officer must enter the data that is provided in the registration form in the records of the Central Registry

• Let us consider that the officer detects that two divorce proceedings are in pending state amongst the partners mentioned in the registration form. Then, the officer directs a written notice inclusive of the data in the records of the registry in the following manner:
  • If the divorce applications were not filed on the same day, then the notice is sent to the registrars of both courts where the applications for divorce have been filed, or
  • If the applications were filed on the same day, then the notice is sent to the registrars of both courts where the applications were filed as well as to the Registry of the Federal Court

• On the contrary, the officer may detect that no other divorce proceeding is pending amongst the spouses mentioned on the registration form. Then, this officer dispatches a written notice mentioning this fact to the registrar of the court where the application was filed

• The written notice referred to in the previous points is in electronic form or a separate notice or an endorsement on the relevant registration form

• When the registrar of the court receives the written notice mentioned above, this registrar performs 2 operations:
  • Places the written notice along with the relevant application for divorce, and
  • If 2 divorce proceedings are pending amongst the spouses, then informs the person who filed the divorce application regarding the other application

In a nutshell, we may conclude that the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings eliminate duplication of divorce proceedings and help a person find out details of location and case filed by a petitioner. After getting the information from CRDP, one may approach the respective court to obtain divorce certificates, papers and other related documents. It is to be noted that the Registry does not handover any copies of divorce papers or any documents.

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