Divorce & Separation
Where custody and access is at issue Courts have the ability to order a “Section 30 Assessment”. Section 30 refers to s. 30 of the Children’s Law Reform Act, which states: The court before which an application is brought in respect of custody of or access to a child, by order, may appoint a person who has […]
Section 30 Assessments Read More »
In Rochon v. Rochon, 2018 BCSC 1899, the BC Supreme Court denied a spousal support claim by a wife where there was not a compensatory support claim and where following the division of family property the wife would have sufficient assets to meet her needs, avoid economic hardship and to pay her needs. Before trial the wife
High-Income High-Asset Spousal Support Read More »
In Burke v. Poitras, 2018 ONCA 1025 (CanLII), the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a settlement conference judge’s decision to strike pleadings on financial matters where a family law litigant failed to follow orders to provide basic financial disclosure. The family law system is based on up front full disclosure of financial matters, including providing up to
Timely Financial Disclosure Key Read More »
The Ontario Court of Appeal considered who benefits from an increased real estate value of the matrimonial home after separation where only one married spouse is on title in Gionet v. Pingue, 2018 ONCA 1040. The Honourable Justice Alison Young considered the appeal of the spouse on title who believed the trial judge misapplied the law to
Real Estate Value Increase After Split Read More »
In the Newfoundland Supreme Court Decision in Re: C.C. (2018 NLSC 71), a judge decided the parental determination case where two male partners who were in an polyamorous relationship with a woman. Is Canada finally ready for polyamorous families to be legal? In Re: C.C., Fowler J. found that since both men were in a sexual relationship with the
Paternal Polyamory and Polygamy Read More »
Bill C-78, a revamp of the Divorce Act was tabled in the House of Commons. The new proposed act focuses changes relating to children. First, the bill drops terms like “custody” and “access” and instead refers to “parenting orders” and “parenting time”. The intent of the legislation is to reduce conflict by making legal decisions on parenting
Divorce Act Changes Read More »
Difficulties with capacity affect every aspect of a person’s life, from the ability to manage finances, personal care, residential placement to the capacity to get married and to divorce. Complicating matters is that many do not realize that capacity depends on the context, and is determined whenever a decision is made. For example, a person
Capacity to Reconcile and Capacity to Divorce Read More »
In the recent Newfoundland Court of Appeal decision in Baker v. Harmina, 2018 NLCA 15, the infrequently litigated issue of pet ownership issue was considered by the Court. This case has had wide media discussion not because of the outcome of the case (which as expected treated pets as property), but because of the dissenting opinion of
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice Decision by The Honourable Kenneth G. Hood, in Choquette v. Choquette FINAL Mar 1 2018 highlights the complexity and difficulty in variation applications by high income earners. Of note in this case is that the support recipient had little income at the time of variation and was not the caregiver
High Income Spousal Support Variations Read More »
Couples who are separating often overlook Registered Education Savings Plans (“RESPs”) when considering what assets to divide. Sometimes these RESPs are in one or both of the spouse’s names. RESPs are an asset that many couples have in high value or high asset divorce because financial advisers rightly encourage clients to take advantage of the
RESP Division After Separation Read More »
