Blogs

When separated parents cannot make decisions for their children, or cannot agree on who should have custody, they may have to go to court. Judges are almost never trained in social work or child psychology. Some of them did not…

Custody/access assessments are not binding on judges. That means judges do not have to follow them. The report is only one piece of evidence, and the psychologist is the only witness at a trial. The judge has to consider everything. For all…

Engagement rings, and other “gifts in contemplation of marriage” are not gifts in the traditional sense. Rather, in the legal context, they are part of a contract to get married. The contract works like this: He asks you to marry him…

A lot of common-law spouses ask about how their assets are divided when they break up. In Ontario, the law is different for common-law couples than it is for married couples. For common-law couples, it is more complicated. You probably…

The first question you have to ask first is whether you need an emergency temporary custody order. Judges do not like making custody orders, especially on incomplete evidence and on a rushed basis unless the order is necessary to protect the health and…

Yes. In Ontario, a Children’s Aid Society has the right to interview children without their parents’ consent during the course of a child protection investigation (an investigation into abuse or neglect). The Ministry of Children and Youth Services included interviewing children…

Yes. What matters when you are getting divorced is where you live at the time you are getting the divorce. Where you got married almost never matters. You are not entitled to get divorced in Ontario if you have not…

As families change, and tough financial times mean that parents have to work more and more just to pay the bills, grandparents are becoming more and more involved with raising their grandchildren. To help out, grandparents can spend a lot…

There are specific circumstances in which a judge might set aside a marriage contract to order spousal support. They are discussed in more detail in this podcast in this video and in this easy-to-understand best-selling book on Ontario Family Law. It is not a simple…