Family law matters generate some of the most urgent and complex apostille requests.

When a custody or access order from a Canadian court needs to be enforced or recognized in another country, an apostilled copy of the court order is the standard starting point. The process: obtain a certified copy of the order from the court clerk (with the clerk's signature and court seal), submit it to the relevant competent authority for apostille, then submit to the foreign court or authority.

For Hague Child Abduction Convention cases (a separate treaty from the Apostille Convention), the relevant Canadian authority is the Central Authority in the province where the child is located.

Canadian outgoing adoption files include: apostilled birth certificate of the adoptive parent(s), apostilled criminal record checks (RCMP fingerprint-based), court-issued adoption orders (apostilled), and home study documents. Each document follows its own apostille route based on the province of issue or notarization.

For a Canadian divorcee seeking to remarry in a foreign country, the foreign registry needs proof that the Canadian divorce is legally valid. An apostilled divorce certificate or court divorce order is the standard document. Some countries also require a certified statement that the decree of divorce is final and that no appeals are pending - this comes from the court and must also be apostilled.