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Once an order or agreement characterizes lump sum payments as spousal support, a recipient cannot change that characterization (i.e. to an equalization claim) in order to avoid the payor’s motion to reduce support. When spousal support is characterized as a lump sum, it doesn’t change the fact that, like any other support obligation, if it…

If they had the choice, many payees would probably prefer to receive a lump sum spousal award rather than periodic payments. If payments are periodic, you take the risk that they might not be paid on time, or else not be paid at all. Since most payors don’t have an ability to pay lump sum…

In high conflict custody and access situations, the Office of the Children’s Lawyer may become involved in preparing a report to the court regarding custody and access. A report is prepared by an OCL investigator (usually a social worker) after interviewing the child, the parents, any other relevant parties, and obtaining information from the child’s…

In Ontario, for most civil claims, you have two years after discovering the cause of action (or 2 years from the date when you should have discovered the cause of action) in which to initiate court proceedings. In family law, you can make a claim for the equalization of net family property up to 2…

Depending on the respective ages of yourself and your spouse when you separate, it’s wise for a payor of spousal support to consider including a provision in a separation agreement that allows him or her to retire at a certain age, particularly if they plan on taking early retirement, or retiring as soon as they…

Andrew Feldstein is a Toronto family law lawyer who is helping increase awareness about the availability of unbundled legal services to assist self-represented litigants. In the latest instalment of his “It’s Time for Justice” series, he discusses the problem faced by many litigants in family court who would prefer to hire a lawyer, but can’t…

Parties who start an action in family court have a certain period of time within which to have their matter set down for trial. One year after the case was started, the court will send out a notice of approaching administrative dismissal to either yourself, if you are self represented, or your lawyer. It’s not…

Under the Family Law Rules, when applying for an uncontested divorce, you have the option of starting the Application and then serving it on the responding party, or else cooperating with your spouse and filing the Application, jointly, as co-applicants. The primary benefit of a joint application is that it doesn’t need to be filed…

According to the Court of Appeal in Gray v. Rizzi, the answer to the above question is ‘no’. In this case, a final order from 2005 awarded significant child and spousal support to the wife even though the husband, who was self-employed, had never made proper financial disclosure to the wife. Had he made the…

In 2015, a Toronto lawyer launched a private case management service for family law cases. Why would a litigant in family law consider such a service when there is already a version of case management in the court system? When parties are involved in court proceedings in Ontario, the process will include access to either…