Separation and separation date. The state of separation is established by the parties’ state of mind and course of action. Notwithstanding that, the parties in a state of separation may disagree on the exact date of the start of the separation. There is an incitement to disagree if the choice of a particular date is self-serving. The state, no less than the date, are relevant for different reasons in different contexts: (a) to establish entitlement to a divorce by reason of separation; (b) for income tax purposes to indicate the tax payer’s marital status (see Government of Canada: Canada Revenue Agency: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/rtrn/cmpltng/prsnl-nf/mrtl-eng.html); (c) to establish a valuation date for the Net Family Property calculation for property equalization; (d) to formalize a separation agreement.
The choice of a particular separation date may be especially contentious for the Net Family Property calculation, since, depending on the situation, the resulting value may be greater or lesser.
Federal and provincial. Family law is federal (enacted by Parliament) and provincial (within the competence of each Legislature), because Canada is a federal country and divorce law is within federal jurisdiction, but family law generally is not. This makes divorce law uniform across Canada. Each province has its own property and family law. However, matters ancillary to divorce such as custody or support are also within federal jurisdiction if an application for divorce is involved. Hence there may be an overlap in respect of custody and support between the federal and provincial legislation. Last, although substantive family law is federal and provincial, all family courts are provincial and the rules of court are provincial.
In Ontario the rules of court are the Family Law Rules. Together with the Divorce Act (federal), the Family Law Act (provincial), and the Children’s Law Reform Act (provincial), the rules of court are applied day-to-day in Ontario courts.