Order Your Marriage Certificate
When applying for a Divorce, if you were married in Canada, it is a requirement that the proper form of marriage certificate be filed in the Court. Often clients will have a marriage certificate but it is not in the form required by the Courts. (For instance, sometimes it is from the church or it is the form signed by a Marriage Commissioner, and these are not acceptable.)
To check if you have the correct form of certificate or to order the correct certificate, below are instructions depending on the province in which you were married. Make sure that you are ordering from the appropriate government website and not from a private website (which can often have names that lead one to think that they are with the government). Also be aware that wait times for marriage certificates can vary from province to province and can be much longer than one might expect. We recommend checking the applicable website to see if the marriage certificate you have is the correct one and if a certificate is needed, order it as soon as possible! When in doubt about which certificate to order, order the one called a “Marriage Certificate”. That sounds obvious, but there are other certificates available which can sound more official but are not the ones required by the Alberta Courts.
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Married in Alberta:
If you live in Alberta you cannot order the certificate online but rather you must do so by going to a Registry Agent. The document required is called a “Marriage Certificate”.
(See sample: Sample Alberta marriage certificate (PDF) )
Order an Alberta marriage certificate
Married in British Columbia:
Order a British Columbia marriage certificate
Married in Saskatchewan:
Although it may sound more official, the “Certified Copy” isn’t the right document. You will need to order the “Frame Certificate”.
Order a Saskatchewan marriage certificate
Married in Manitoba:
Order a Manitoba marriage certificate
Married in Ontario:
Make sure to order the “Marriage Certificate” and not the “Certified Copy of Marriage Registration”.
Order an Ontario marriage certificate
Married in Quebec:
Order a Quebec marriage certificate
Married in Newfoundland and Labrador:
Order a Newfoundland and Labrador marriage certificate
Married in New Brunswick:
Order a New Brunswick marriage certificate
Married in Prince Edward Island:
Order a Prince Edward Island marriage certificate
Married in Nova Scotia:
Make sure to order the “Short Form Marriage Certificate”.
Order a Nova Scotia marriage certificate
Married in Northwest Territories:
Order the “Large (framing size) Marriage Certificate”.
Order a Northwest Territories marriage certificate
Married in Yukon:
Order the “Large certificate”.
Order a Yukon marriage certificate
Married in Nunavut:
Order the “Paper Size” and ignore the fact that the website says that the “Restricted Photocopy” is used for legal purposes. Note that application for a marriage certificate can only be made by mail with payment by cheque or money order.