Uncategorized

When parents have an acrimonious relationship post separation, a court can impose- or the parties can agree- that they will retain a parenting coordinator to mediate, govern and make ongoing decisions about co-parenting. While this seems like a reasonable choice to make when the alternative is to keep taking custody and access matters back in…

Sometimes, when couples separate, one spouse stays in the matrimonial home for years following the separation, even when they are not on the title to the house. While it’s not unusual for one spouse to hold the title to the house in their name as sole owner, if you are planning on living at the…

If you’re looking for a rough idea of how much you might be entitled to in spousal support (based on your respective incomes, and length of marriage), there’s a free online tool that can help. My Support Calculator is a scaled down version of the software that lawyers in Ontario use to calculate spousal support,…

Many clients don’t know that they have the option of hiring a family lawyer on an unbundled basis rather than on a full retainer. “Unbundled service” can mean different things depending on the context. If you’re involved in litigation, it can mean hiring a lawyer to draft pleadings, for example, or hiring a lawyer to…

Once you’ve separated, it’s advisable to prepare a new Will as soon as possible. Otherwise, if you pass away without a Will, or with an older Will where your spouse was designated as a beneficiary, your soon-to-be ex stands to inherit under your estate. While a divorce will automatically revoke any designation you made with…

Any initiating court document, including an Application for an uncontested divorce, must be served in person on the responding party. This is called “special service”. Normally, you would hire a professional process server to serve the materials on the individual at their home or place of work. However, if you’ve been out of touch with…

If the responding party lives in the U.S. or Canada, they have 30 days in which to respond to a family court Application once it has been served on them. The moving party, the Applicant, will file their affidavit of service in the court record confirming when the materials were served on the responding party.…

While there is no shortage of complaints against the Family Responsibility Office for not doing enough to enforce support orders, a case this past spring illustrates that, at times, FRO may be overly zealous in its pursuit of payors. In DeBiasio v. DeBiasio, there was an existing order for payment of child support. When the…

Given how common second marriages and blended families have become, you would think that there would be a clearly defined set of rules for when a step-parent becomes financially responsible for the biological child of their ex spouse or partner. In general, if an individual voluntarily assumes responsibility for a step-child (and treats the child…

Married spouses often hold real estate in joint tenancy, as opposed to tenants in common. The principle of joint tenancy is that both parties own the property as an undivided whole and, immediately upon the death of one, the surviving joint tenant acquires an undivided 100% interest in the property. The property never falls into…