The Family Responsibility Office (FRO) is a program of the Ministry of Community and Social Services that collects and distributes court-ordered child and spousal support payments. If the person paying support fails to do so, FRO can enforce the court…
Workers in Ontario’s shelters for women and children fleeing abuse have been providing support to women involved with family court for decades. Occasionally funded through short-term grants, sometimes with resources provided by community fund-raising and often just tacked on to…
How can a woman make the most of her time with a lawyer? How can she know if a lawyer is a good fit for her case? What can she do if she doesn’t feel that her lawyer is serving…
We are all familiar with the tactic of financial abuse during a relationship. This abuse can continue and take on new forms after separation. One of those new forms is identity theft, in which the abusive partner steals his partner’s…
Our beautiful Family Court and Beyond Survival Workbook and Organizer are now available for purchase. To limit our costs and keep the price low for agencies, the two booklets can be ordered only in sets of ten. Ten copies of…
Our two new safety resources on Family Court and Beyond will be helpful for women who are leaving home to escape an abusive partner or trying to keep safe in their family home once the abusive partner no longer lives…
This FAQ builds on work done by others: a paper written by Julie Shaw and a published paper written by Sandra M. Stith and Eric E. McCollum. There are different opinions about whether or not it is appropriate for a…
Before a woman signs any kind of agreement related to her family law issues, she should obtain independent legal advice (ILA). This means she needs to meet with her own lawyer to review whatever the agreement may be. Common agreements…
The problem When a woman leaves an abusive relationship, family court outcomes can play a key role in improving the safety and quality of her life and that of her children. However, the family law system can also increase risk…
This is the second of two blog posts on parenting plans. In the first post we examined the purposes of a parenting plan and reviewed key components of the best interests of the child test. In this post, we’ll set…
