Divorce records are public in Ontario. Under section 137 of the Courts of Justice Act, any person may access documents filed in a family law case for $1 per page, unless a court sealing order, publication ban, or statutory restriction applies. A certified divorce certificate costs $25 as of July 2026.
The question "are divorce records public Ontario" reflects a common worry: divorcing spouses often assume their financial affidavits, parenting disputes, and settlement terms are confidential. They are not, by default. Ontario, like every Canadian province except Quebec, applies the open court principle to family litigation. This guide explains exactly what is accessible, what is protected, how a divorce records search works, what it costs, and how to seal divorce records when your privacy is genuinely at risk.
Key Facts: Ontario Divorce Records Access
| Fact | Ontario Detail |
|---|---|
| Records public by default | Yes — under Courts of Justice Act § 137 |
| Cost to view/copy | $1.00 per page (uncertified); $3.50–$4.00 per page certified |
| Divorce certificate fee | $25 (certified copy of divorce judgment or certificate) |
| Divorce filing fees (2026) | $669 court fees + $10 federal CRDP fee under O. Reg. 417/95 |
| Residency requirement | 1 year ordinarily resident in Ontario — Divorce Act § 3(1) |
| Grounds | 1-year separation, adultery, or cruelty — Divorce Act § 8 |
| Property division type | Equalization of net family property (not community property) |
| Sealing standard | Sherman Estate / Sierra Club three-part test |
Are Divorce Records Public in Ontario?
Divorce records are public in Ontario. Under Courts of Justice Act § 137(1), any member of the public may inspect court lists, filed documents, and entered judgments in a family proceeding upon paying $1 per page, unless a statute, common law rule, or court order restricts access. This openness applies to every Superior Court of Justice family file.
Ontario is one of Canada's common-law provinces, and it presumes that civil and family litigation is open. This is not an accident of policy — the open court principle is protected by the freedom-of-expression guarantee in section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Courts describe it as "a central feature of a liberal democracy." The practical result for divorcing spouses is significant: a divorce application, financial statement (Form 13 or 13.1), affidavit, and final order are all part of the public divorce filings unless sealed. The bar to restrict access is deliberately high, meaning the vast majority of divorce records in Ontario remain open to anyone willing to attend the correct courthouse, name the file, and pay the per-page fee.
What Documents Are Included in a Public Divorce Record?
A public divorce record in Ontario includes the Application for Divorce (Form 8A), the Affidavit for Divorce (Form 36), financial statements, parenting affidavits, court endorsements, and the signed Divorce Order. Under Courts of Justice Act § 137(1), these documents are accessible at $1 per page unless a sealing order applies.
The openness of family files surprises many spouses because the documents contain deeply personal data. A standard contested Ontario divorce file can expose income figures, bank balances, RRSP and pension values, debt schedules, allegations of misconduct, and detailed parenting-time disputes. The following categories are typically part of the public record when no restriction exists:
- Application for Divorce (Form 8A) and Answer (Form 10), naming both spouses.
- Financial Statement (Form 13 for support-only; Form 13.1 where property is at issue), listing income, assets, and liabilities.
- Affidavits and case-management endorsements describing the dispute.
- The final Divorce Order and any corollary relief orders (support, equalization).
- Court lists showing the case number, parties, and next appearance date.
What is not automatically public: settlement negotiations conducted off the record, mediation communications, and any document a judge has ordered sealed. Understanding this list is the first step in managing divorce records privacy — you cannot protect what you have not identified as sensitive.
How Do You Perform a Divorce Records Search in Ontario?
To perform a divorce records search in Ontario, contact the Superior Court of Justice courthouse where the divorce was filed with the file number, year, and county. For divorces since 1968, the federal Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings (CRDP) can identify the processing court. Online searches launched region-by-region starting October 14, 2025.
The method depends on when and where the divorce occurred. For divorces from 1987 to the present, files are held at the Superior Court of Justice courthouse in the county or district where the case was filed. You will generally need three data points: the court file number, the year of the divorce, and the county or district. If you do not know which court handled the matter, the federal Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings covers every Canadian divorce since 1968 and can supply the processing court's address. To search the CRDP, you provide both spouses' full names at birth and birth dates, the marriage date, and the approximate divorce date.
Ontario also modernized online divorce records search access. Starting October 14, 2025, the search process varies by region: Toronto-region cases are searched through the Ontario Courts Public Portal, while other regions continue to use the Justice Services Online portal. These online tools reveal case status and whether a publication ban exists, but they do not display full private records or files subject to access restrictions. Historical, closed files are eventually transferred to the Archives of Ontario, which handles older divorce records search requests directly.
What Does It Cost to Access Divorce Records in Ontario?
Accessing divorce records in Ontario costs $1.00 per page for uncertified copies and $3.50–$4.00 per page for certified copies. A certified divorce certificate costs $25. Older archived files carry basic search-and-certification fees of roughly $40–$60 CAD. Fee waivers exist for eligible low-income applicants.
The fee schedule is set by regulation and applies uniformly across Superior Court of Justice locations. The table below breaks down the common charges for a divorce records search, verified as of July 2026. Verify with your local clerk, because regulated fees change periodically.
| Service | Fee (CAD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| View/copy uncertified page | $1.00 | Standard per-page rate |
| Certified copy per page | $3.50–$4.00 | Court staff certification |
| Certificate of Divorce | $25.00 | Official proof marriage is dissolved |
| Archived file search + certification | $40–$60 | Older, transferred files |
| Fee waiver | $0 | Court Fee Waiver Guide, income-tested |
Processing time matters as much as cost. A file still held at the local courthouse typically takes one to two weeks to copy. A file shipped to the Archives of Ontario takes three to five weeks to locate, photocopy, certify, and mail. Be cautious of third-party services that charge $300 or more to retrieve your own certificate — they perform the identical public process and simply add a markup. Self-represented individuals can complete every step without a lawyer, because the process is designed for public use.
As of July 2026, verify all fees
As of July 2026, Ontario divorce filing fees total approximately $669 in court fees plus a $10 federal CRDP fee, and the divorce certificate costs $25. Fees are set under O. Reg. 417/95 and change periodically. Verify current amounts with your local Superior Court of Justice clerk before filing or requesting records.
Separating the two fee categories avoids confusion. Filing a divorce is a different transaction from accessing records after the fact. To file, spouses pay a fee to issue the Application for Divorce and a further fee to file the Affidavit for Divorce, plus the mandatory federal registration fee payable to the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings. To access records — whether your own or someone else's public divorce filings — you pay the per-page copying fees described above. Fee waivers under the Court Fee Waiver Guide can eliminate both categories for qualifying low-income applicants. Because the regulated schedule is updated over time, always treat any published figure as a starting estimate and confirm the exact amount with the clerk at the courthouse where your matter is filed.
How Can You Seal Divorce Records in Ontario?
To seal divorce records in Ontario, a spouse must apply under Courts of Justice Act § 137(2) and satisfy the Supreme Court's three-part Sherman Estate / Sierra Club test: court openness poses a serious risk to an important public interest, the sealing order is necessary because alternatives will not work, and its benefits outweigh the harm to open courts.
Sealing divorce records is possible but difficult. Courts of Justice Act § 137(2) empowers a judge to order that a filed document "be treated as confidential, sealed and not form part of the public record." The statute grants the power but not the criteria; the criteria come from case law. In Sierra Club of Canada v Canada (Minister of Finance), 2002 SCC 41, the Supreme Court set the original two-part test. In Sherman Estate v Donovan, 2021 SCC 25, the Court refined it into three prerequisites that all must be met:
- Court openness poses a serious risk to an important public interest (privacy can qualify, but only where the information strikes at a person's biographical core or dignity).
- The order is necessary because reasonably alternative measures — such as redaction or initials — will not prevent the risk.
- As a matter of proportionality, the salutary effects of the order outweigh its deleterious effects on the open court principle.
Courts favour the least intrusive remedy, sealing only specific documents or passages and often for a limited duration. Importantly, the mere involvement of a child under 18 is not, on its own, enough to justify sealing an entire divorce file.
Are Child-Related Divorce Cases Treated Differently?
Child-related divorce cases receive extra procedural protection in Ontario. Under Rule 1.3 of the Family Law Rules, a member of the public must give 10 calendar days' written notice before accessing any file involving decision-making responsibility, parenting time, or contact with a child. Parties then have 10 days to bring a motion for a restricted access order.
The 10-day notice rule is a meaningful buffer for families. It applies to any document in a case that raises a claim about decision-making responsibility, parenting time, or contact under the Divorce Act, an order under Part I of the Children's Law Reform Act, or an international child abduction matter. The public requester must serve written notice on the parties and, in some circumstances, the Office of the Children's Lawyer. After receiving notice, a party has 10 calendar days to bring a motion for a restricted access order; if such a motion is filed, court staff cannot grant public access until a judge decides the motion.
Using Canadian terminology matters here. Ontario law under the modernized 2021 Divorce Act framework speaks of parenting arrangements, decision-making responsibility, and parenting time — not "custody" or "visitation." A parenting order allocates these responsibilities. Separately, child protection proceedings under subsections 87(4) and 121(8) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 are closed to the public entirely, unless a court orders otherwise. These are distinct from private family disputes between spouses.
How Long Are Divorce Records Kept and Where Are They Archived?
Ontario divorce records are retained permanently. Active and recently closed files remain at the Superior Court of Justice courthouse where the case was filed. Older, inactive files are transferred to the Archives of Ontario, where retrieval takes three to five weeks. The federal Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings has indexed every Canadian divorce since 1968.
Record retention in Ontario follows a two-tier structure. In the first tier, the local courthouse keeps active files and recently finalized divorces, making a divorce records search relatively quick — a one-to-two-week turnaround for copies. In the second tier, once a file has been dormant long enough, the courthouse ships it to the Archives of Ontario for long-term preservation. Archived retrieval is slower because staff must locate the physical box, photocopy the contents, apply certification stamps, and mail the result, a process that commonly takes three to five weeks. Layered over both tiers is the CRDP, the federal index that does not store the full file but records the existence of every divorce proceeding since 1968 and points requesters to the correct court. Because these records are permanent, a divorce filed decades ago remains part of the public divorce filings and can still be located with the right identifying details.