Us Weekly reported, "After more than two years apart, Heidi Klum and Seal officially finalized their divorce on" October 14, 2014. Heidi and her husband, Seal, married in 2005 and separated in 2012. The parties have four children together and have remained amicable, as reported by Us Weekly, throughout their separation.

This news, however, may shock much of the public, not because of the names involved but due to how long the divorce took to finalize. In Ontario, a court will not grant a divorce unless it has been satisfied that adequate arrangements (i.e. child support) have been made for any children of the marriage. Further, many separations involve a multitude of legal claims in addition to the claim for divorce, including, but not limited to, spousal support, child support, life insurance, and equalization.

Sometimes, the legal issues, some of which are mentioned above, are dealt with through a Separation Agreement which is negotiated between the parties and their respective lawyers. This is often preferential than to have a judge render their decision as the parties have more control over the end result when they are the individuals crafting the "orders" that are to be made.

The claim for divorce, on the other hand, must be done through the courts. In Ontario, parties can bring a simple divorce before the court. Neither party is required to be present before a judge. In fact, only one of the spouses is required to bring the Application for divorce. Once this has been filed with the Courts and served on the "opposing party", their spouse, the Applicant must wait 30 days. After the 30 day time period has lapsed, the Applicant must then serve and file an Affidavit for Divorce. After receiving both of these documents, a Court will then grant the Divorce.

If Heidi Klum and Seal only made a claim for divorce and adequate arrangements had been made for the children, then the divorce would have been finalized shortly after the one year period of living separate and apart lapsed. However, many issues complicate a divorce and a two year period to resolve all issues including the claim for divorce is not too unreasonable.