As things are heating up between Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, Ashton now legally wants out of his marriage with Demi Moore.
It has been reported that Ashton is allowing Demi to file the papers as a kind gesture due to her emotional breakdown and hospitalization post-split. However, Demi has yet to do so. Now, rumors are spreading that Demi plans to pen a tell-all book revealing the juicy details of her seven year marriage to Ashton.
If Demi has time to write a tell-all book, shouldn't she be able to find some time to get those papers filed?
With Mila on hold, and Demi stalling, what, if anything, can Ashton do?
In Canada, when a couple splits and decides that they want to obtain a divorce, either party may do so by commencing an Application in the Court. This will begin a court action where the Court system will assist the partners in reaching a settlement of all issues pertaining to their matter in order to ultimately obtain a divorce order.
However, if the parties have settled their issues outside of the Court system by way of negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, Collaborative Family law, or some combination of these, the parties will commonly enter into a Separation Agreement.
This written Agreement, will detail all of the settled issues which the parties have come to in finalizing their Separation. Once the outstanding issues in their matter have been finalized, the parties may then commence and Application for Divorce in the Court.
In this case, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were married at their California home on September 24, 2005 and separated in November 2011. The "divorce papers" which Ashton is waiting for Demi to file are what would be known in Canada as an Application for Divorce. This Application can be filed by either individual naming the other party as the Respondent, or it may be filed jointly.
Once the Application has been filed with the Court, the Respondent would then have 30 days within which to file an Answer to the Application for Divorce. If the other spouse is not opposing the Divorce, they do not have to file an Answer.
If no Answer is filed, the Applicant will have to file, along with a copy of the original Marriage Certificate, an Affidavit to confirm that all the information in the Application is correct, and that the arrangements have been made for the support of any children of the marriage.
Although Ashton and Demi did not have any children, it is well known that Ashton has a very close relationship with his 3 step-daughters (Demi's children with former spouse Bruce Willis) Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah. In fact, Ashton's close relationship with Demi's children is one of the things that is bothering Demi; she would like her adult children to take her side in the divorce and cut off all contact with Ashton.
Before a Court grants a divorce in Canada, the parties will have to show there has been a breakdown of their marriage as evidenced either by:
- The spouses have lived separate and apart for at least one year immediately preceding the determination of the divorce proceeding and were living separate and apart at the commencement of the proceeding; or
- The spouse against whom the divorce proceeding is brought has, since the date of marriage:
- Committed adultery; or
- Treated the other spouse with physical or mental cruelty
Once either Ashton or Demi gets a move on and files those divorce papers, and once a Court makes an Order for their Divorce, their divorce will officially take effect on the 31st day after the date of the Order.
Perhaps Ashton should stop waiting around for Demi to file the papers and do it himself before he Punk's himself and loses out on Mila.