Recent Case: Changing a final parenting order

Luke's Place

This case involved a father who wanted to change a final order about parenting that had been made over 7 years earlier. In order to change a final order, the father brought a motion to change and had to prove that there had been a “material change in circumstances” since the making of the final…

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Parenting arrangements: The best interests of the child test

Family courts use what is called the best interests of the child (BIC) test when they make parenting decisions. Whether a family is using the Divorce Act or the Children’s Law Reform Act, the judge will consider the following 11 factors in the BIC test as they make decisions about the children: It is important…

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Recent case: Abuse of counsel may amount to family violence

Top view of a laptop, cell phone, two pens and pink sticky notes

In Armstrong v Coupland, Madam Justice Chappel applies a broad and nuanced understanding of the definition of family violence contained in the Children’s Law Reform Act (CLRA). The motion, brought by the father for increased and unsupervised parenting time with the young child (almost three years old), was the most recent in a long series of court appearances…

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‘No’ to shared parenting presumptions

Two women talking at a table

In his recent article in The Lawyer’s Daily, Gene C. Colman takes the position that the majority of Canadians support creating a rebuttable presumption in favour of shared parenting in family law (“Equal shared parenting has huge support”).  I beg to differ with both his assertion that this is something most Canadians want and the wisdom of…

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Arrangements for the children after separation

The court can order that one parent have all the decision-making responsibilities or that you and your partner share this responsibility and will consider what is in the best interests of your child when making an order about how decisions are to be made.

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