FAMILY LAW

Divorce may be granted through a court order after separated spouses have lived apart for at least one year. If there are children of the relationship, often parenting issues need to be addressed before the court will grant a divorce. I can prepare your documents and submit them to court on your behalf for a smooth divorce process.

Major decision-making (formerly known as “custody”) and parenting time (formerly known as “access”) are often confused terms. I can help you put together a parenting plan based on your family’s specific needs.

Major decision-making refers to major decisions regarding a child’s health, education, religion and general well-being. For example, where a child goes to school/daycare, registering a child in counselling, medical treatment for a child or enrolling a child in extracurricular activities.

There are also claims related to major decision-making that parents often seek to be included in a court order or agreement, such as ability to travel with a child with or without the other party’s consent or the ability to obtain government issued identification (eg. birth certificate, health card, passport, SIN card) with or without the other party’s signature.

Important considerations when deciding whether parties can have joint decision-making responsibility or if one party should have sole decision-making responsibility is how involved a parent is in making those major decisions, whether the parties can effectively communicate to make the decisions together, and whether a parent will try to interfere with the other parent’s relationship with the child(ren).

Parenting time refers to the amount of time each parent spends with the child. There may be a primary parent and a secondary parent or there may be shared parenting time. If a parent has care of the child at least 40% of the time, this may still be considered shared parenting time. Parenting time is based on the child(ren)’s best interests and some factors to consider in determining this are the status quo parenting arrangement, the availability of each parent to exercise parenting time, and the distance between the parents for exchanges.

When determining major decision-making responsibility and parenting time, it may be useful to ascertain the child(ren)’s views and preferences. If a child is old enough to express their views and preferences, sometimes parties can request for or engage a representative from the Office of the Children’s Lawyer (OCL). The OCL can be a social worker, lawyer, or both, and they may provide a report and/or legal representation for the child with the child(ren)’s views and preferences based on their age and level of maturity.

Spousal support is payable if the recipient can establish that they are entitled to this, which is a legal test. There are compensatory, non-compensatory and contractual bases for spousal support. If the recipient establishes they are entitled to spousal support, the monthly amount (quantum) and length of time that it is payable (duration) is calculated. Entitlement and support are based on a number of factors, including the length of the relationship, the ages of the spouses, their roles throughout the relationship, whether child support is payable and the spouses’ respective incomes. In order to ensure that support is appropriately calculated each year, both parties must exchange financial disclosure. Please contact me to find out how I can help guide you through this process.

Property rights differ between married and unmarried couples in Ontario and can be quite complex. Married couples are entitled to equalization of net family property, which is the accrued assets and debts over the course of the marriage, with various exceptions. Common law couples, who are unmarried and have cohabited for at least 3 years or have a child together, are not entitled to equalization. When parties have property to be divided, whether they are married or common law spouses, they need to complete a Financial Statement and provide proper documentation to support the values of the property they seek to be divided or not divided. Please contact me to discuss how your property rights are affected by your family law issue.

Cohabitation Agreements and Marriage Contracts are domestic contracts that are made to preserve a party’s interest in property before separation. For common law couples, cohabitation agreements are created when they begin living with each other. For married couples, a marriage contract can be made before they are married (prenuptial agreement) or afterwards (post-nuptial agreement). If the parties marry after cohabitating, their Cohabitation Agreement will become a Marriage Contract. Please contact me if you are interested in preparing a Cohabitation Agreement or Marriage Contract.

Restraining Orders may be ordered when one party is at risk of harm by the other party. A family law restraining order is different from a criminal law one. In both family law and criminal law restraining orders, there can be restrictions on direct and/or indirect contact and distance that a party needs to keep from the other party. If a criminal law restraining order, peace bond, recognizance of bail or probation order does not include an exception for contact or communication pursuant to a family court order, then it is a good idea to request for this. If you need immediate help with a Restraining Order, please contact me.