Alberta Court Records

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Canada

Alberta

Court Records

Online Records

• Acts of Divorce, 1841-1968 Instructions Search Database Index
• Canada Parliamentary Marriage and Divorces, 1867-1919 index, at Ancestry ($)

Provincial Archives of Alberta

The court records found at the Provincial Archives (most of these records are indexed) are:

• Coroners’ Files (1910–1927)
• Inquest Files (1884–1905, 1910–1928)
• Justice of The Peace Files (1898–1927)
• Criminal Files (1915–1928)

Do you need information and cannot do the research yourself? The Archives can provide contract research services and homestead searches for a fee. Price List

Divorces

Provincial Archives of Alberta

• The Provincial Archives holds divorce records for several judicial districts from around the province (ca. 1918 - ca. 1975). Indices are available for many of the records in the Reading Room.
• The Provincial Archives holds divorce records for most Judicial Districts but the records are not more recent than about 1975.

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• Calgary: 1915-1975
• Drumheller: 1943-1975
• Edmonton: 1924-1971
• Fort McMurray: none at present
• Grande Prairie: 1921-1975
• Hanna: 1920-1977
• Lethbridge: 1919-1977

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• Medicine Hat: none at present
• Peace River: 1922-1976
• Red Deer: 1907-1969
• St. Paul: none at present
• Taber: 1923-1934
• Vegreville: 1929-1968
• Wetaskiwin: 1925-1975

|}

• For divorces after these dates, you need to contact the Court of the Queen's Bench in the Judicial District in which the divorce occurred. You can also request a Certificate of Divorce online.

If a divorce took place after 1968 and you do not know in which judicial district the divorce occurred, you should contact the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings in Ottawa:

Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings Department of Justice P.O. Box 2730, Postal Station D Ottawa ON K1P 5W7 (613) 957-4519Call: (613) 957-4519

Parliamentary Divorces

• From 1840 to 1968, divorces in Canada were granted by the Parliament of Canada. From 1867 to 1968, anyone wanting a divorce had to place a notice of intent in newspapers. A petition was submitted to Parliament with details, including the place and date of marriage. Parliament then passed an Act of Divorce granting the divorce.
• Canada Parliamentary Marriage and Divorces, 1867-1919 index, at Ancestry ($)

"This database includes the names of the spouses, places of residence at the time of the marriage and divorce, other marriages (if noted), and dates of marriage and divorce (the date when the act became law) for divorce acts from this period. The original records may include additional information such as other places of residence, occupations, additional court action taken, and number of children (and occasionally their names or genders), if any. The very restrictive grounds for the cost of a divorce made them quite rare; the records are, however, worth obtaining when they apply".

Library and Archives Canada Database of Divorce Records

• Acts of Divorce, 1841-1968 Instructions Index
• Search Database Index
• After finding the reference in the index, find the divorce in the Acts of Parliament. See the chart at How to obtain copies of divorce acts for a list of parliamentary records with links to libraries holding their microfilms.

Senate of Canada

• The Senate of Canada holds the original divorce files, but they are closed to the public under privacy legislation. You can obtain a certified copy of a divorce act for legal purposes from them:

Senate of Canada
Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel
Room 1310
13th Floor
40 Elgin Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A4
CANADA
Telephone: 613-992-2416
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