Posts Tagged ‘custody and access’
Managing back to school decisions during the pandemic with an abusive ex-partner: Tips for frontline workers
Decision-making with an abusive ex-partner is never an easy or straightforward process. Even when the ex-partner has had little involvement in making decisions or planning for the children, many of them have plenty of ideas about what they think the mother should or should not do. For women with school-age children, decisions about education are…
Read moreWill Canada’s new Divorce Act keep women and children fleeing abuse safe? The gaps – Part 3/3
The revised Divorce Act, coming into effect on July 1, 2020, offers both pros and cons for survivors of family violence. The pros outweigh the cons, and create the potential for parents who have left an abusive relationship and who use the federal statute to establish parenting arrangements to be better served by the law…
Read moreRecent Court Decision: “In the long run, self-help will turn out to be a big mistake”
McNeil v McGuinness 2020 ONSC 1918 In this case, which was identified by the court as having “a long history of conflict and litigation since the parties separated in 2012,” Justice Pazaratz declined to find the father’s motion to be urgent as set out in the March 15, 2020 Notice to the Profession. In his…
Read moreTwo recent COVID-19 family law decisions
Court says no to “self-help” remedy In Burton v Woods 2020 ONCJ 158, Justice Pugsley was quick and clear in his response to a father who decided not to return the 10-year-old child to the mother at the end of his access time. The existing order, issued after a trial, was for the mother to…
Read moreCOVID-19 Webinar: Supporting women with family violence & family law issues
This webinar looks at family law, family court and safety issues for women leaving abusive relationships while COVID-19 containment measures are in place. Topics covered include: why it is more difficult for women to leave, why incidents of abuse may increase, how to stay safe while still living with the abuser, what family court operations…
Read moreRecent Case Summaries: April 17, 2020
Child protection issues There have been a few child protection cases that the courts have deemed urgent. A number of them deal with arranging some kind of contact between children in care and their parent(s) because agencies are not offering in-person supervised access at this time. Others address issues of appropriate face to face contact…
Read moreRecent COVID-19 related decisions: Restraining orders, access to children
Rankin v Rankin (March 19, 2020): In this case, the wife brought an urgent motion for a restraining order against the husband. He was served late the day before the motion was heard but did not file responding materials or contact the wife’s lawyer. Justice Fitzpatrick found that the matter was urgent and that an…
Read moreCase Law: Scion v White
Scion v White 2020 ONSC 1915: Neither party in this case had a lawyer. On March 24th, Justice Pazaratz issued a triage endorsement allowing the father’s access request to proceed as possibly urgent, but found that his financial and property issues were not urgent and so would not continue at the present time. Nonetheless, the…
Read moreWebinar: What is the best interests of the child test in family law?
In Canada, all decisions about post-separation arrangements for children are made using the best interests of the child test. Both Ontario’s Children’s Law Reform Act and the federal Divorce Act set out the criteria judges are to use when applying the test. This webinar explains what each of those criteria are and mean and discusses…
Read moreAre there strategies that can make long distance access work?
This is the second installment of a two-part series There are many ways a family can organize access even when one parent lives some distance away from the kids. Factors that need to be considered include: Distance The children’s ages Finances Extent of contact before the move History of violence and ongoing safety issues Generally,…
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