This past year in Calgary, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench enacted a new procedure for family law court called Family Docket Court. It is important for litigants to know that this is generally the first step now to get […]
Under the recent amendments to the Divorce Act, parties to a Divorce are obligated to try and resolve matters through a family dispute resolution process before going to court. One option for family dispute resolution is arbitration. An Arbitrator has […]
Bill C-78, An Act to Amend the Divorce Act, came into force on March 1st, 2021. Bill C-78 has four key objectives: promoting the children’s best interests, addressing family violence, helping reduce poverty, and making Canada’s family justice system […]
If you or your lawyer are participating in a divorce trial that includes a marriage, property or parenting rights that have occurred in a foreign jurisdiction with cultural considerations that a judge may not be familiar with, consider bringing an […]
In a recent case out of Ontario, Alsawwah v Afifi, 2020 ONSC 2883 (which was heard by the Ontario Superior Court via videoconference) the Court started out by quoting the famous American trial lawyer, Louis Nizer, who once wrote […]
We are all by now very used to making sure our hands are clean, literally, but did you know there is “Clean Hand Doctrine” in court, wherein a litigant should come to court with figurative clean hands?
In a recently released […]
A Separation Agreement is a legally binding contract with your former spouse that sets out the resolution of issues arising from the breakdown of the relationship. A Separation Agreement can form the basis of a divorce judgment, provided that it […]
If you are in Canada but divorced in another country, Canada will most likely recognize the foreign divorce that was granted (with some limited exceptions). Section 22 of the Divorce Act declares that a divorce granted pursuant to the law […]
When a payor of child support resides outside of Canada, it is important to consider whether there is a need to adjust the guideline income to account for a higher or lower rate of taxation in the country […]
In Cavannah v Johne, 2008 CanLii 65587, the parties had a brief relationship which resulted in the birth of a child, Kai. The Court found that, despite their short relationship and the unplanned pregnancy, the parties had made Kai […]