Family and Divorce Lawyers in Ottawa

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.…