Effective September 1, 2025 – King’s Bench Operations (KBO) will commence a pilot project on desk-divorce packages submitted by counsel and agents. All desk-divorce package submissions, whether filed digitally or submitted via email by counsel or by agent, will be subject to a three-strike rule. The aim of this project to place greater responsibility on counsel to conduct a thorough review of their submissions prior to filing. It is anticipated that the number of incomplete or unsuitable submissions will decrease, thereby reducing the time spent by the King’s Bench Operations on repeated reviews and rejections. The goal is to improve efficiency and streamline the processing of divorce applications.
Clerk Review
Upon review, if a third error, omission, or deficiency is identified within the submission, the Clerk will immediately cease further review and reject the entire filing. The Clerk will provide comments outlining the three specific issues found and will note that the review was discontinued upon reaching the third error.
The submitting party will be advised to review the remainder of the submission against the following documents prior to resubmission:
Desk Divorce Package – Clerk Review Checklist (PDF)
Instructions without Children
Instructions with Children
The submitting party will be further advised that the three-strike rule will apply to each resubmission. Additionally, each resubmission will be returned to the regular processing queue.
Contact
Concerns and comments can be addressed to KBA.LeadershipTeam@just.gov.ab.ca