There’s some differences between legal separation and divorce.

• when the spouses are living apart at the time of the application;
• when it is shown that further living together is hardly tolerable; or
• when one of the spouses has failed to perform an obligation resulting form the marriage ( respect, fidelity, succour and assistance; however, a spouse may not invoke his or her own failure to perform an obligation).

The federal Divorce Act states that there is only one ground for divorce : the breakdown of a marriage. A marriage is deemed to have broken down when

• 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;
• the spouse against whom the divorce proceeding is brought has committed adultery; or
• the spouse against whom the divorce proceeding is brought has treated the other spouse with physical or mental cruelty of such a kind as to render intolerable the continued cohabitation of the spouses.