St. Thomas Divorce & Family Law Blog

Binding Judicial Dispute Resolution Recently, I attended an opening of the courts ceremony in London where judges of the Ontario Court of Justice and the Superior Court of Justice were speaking. The local administrative judge for London updated the audience and said that the London family court branch would soon begin piloting an innovative way to move certain cases toward resolution.  Photo credit: Tyler Lastovich It’s called binding judicial dispute resolution (Binding JDR). It promises to be a helpful option for the right type of case to help move things along and clear up the backlog.  So far, what I know is that Binding JDR combines elements of a settlement conference and elements of a trial. The process is pursued in the courts with a judge that hears the settlement conference, and this same judge would be the one who hears the modified trial.  I wrote about settlement conferences in a previous post. This project has been tried with success in other regions in...

The Difference between “Retroactive” and “Arrears” Decisions about child support or spousal support are usually forward looking. However, a court may also be asked to look backwards to deal with support that should have been paid. There are two scenarios that may apply to your situation: (1) arrears of support, and (2) retroactive support. Arrears and retroactivity apply to child support and spousal support. Photo credit: Nataliya Vaitkevich Arrears Arrears of support are those amounts that a person failed to pay but was required to do so by a contract (e.g., separation agreement) or court order. Determining the precise amount of arrears is not always straightforward. The amount depends on how long the arrears were accumulating, the amount of each payment and the frequency. Arrears: A Real-life Example In one case, a father agreed in a separation agreement signed in 2008 that he would pay child support of $10,000 per year for his two children. Except for a $5,000 lump sum, however, he ...

Your Dear Pet and Family Law  You've had a long and hard day. As soon as you walk in the door, there's your dog there to great you and so happy to see you. It's like therapy. But when two people separate, they will have to negotiate who gets certain property in the division or equalization of their assets. If they can’t agree, a court will decide.  The question comes up, Who gets the dog? If there’s more than one, Who gets which dog? And so on for whatever beloved pet or animal that we have had during the relationship. We have such a strong emotional connection with our pets. This is one more stressful aspect to layer on to the other aspects of separation and divorce that people have to deal with. The emotional support that one gets from their pet may be a major coping mechanism to see them through the divorce. Legal Status of Animals in Ontario In the eyes of the law, pets are personal property. There are laws that govern how we are to treat pets or how many we are permitt...

Family Law Court Process - The Settlement Conference In previous articles, I wrote about what you could expect at early stages of the family law court process. The procedure is that after a case conference and possibly a motion, another pre-trial hearing called a settlement conference is scheduled. At times a settlement conference can be combined with a case conference, but often a settlement conference will be held separately and after all disclosure has been made. A matter cannot proceed to trial without having held a settlement conference. What Can I Expect at My Settlement Conference? A settlement conference is intended to promote resolution of the issues after all financial disclosure and reporting has been made to the parties and the court. With the benefit of the entire picture, a judge at a settlement conference is in a position to provide a judicial opinion that gives each party a solid assessment of the strengths and weaknesses...

Step 4:  What Is a Case Conference? After you have started a court action in family law, the first major appearance that you can expect to have is a pre-trial hearing called a case conference. The case conference has been called the most important step in family law litigation. This hearing is held in front of a judge and allows both sides, either self-represented or with their lawyers, to obtain orders on procedural matters and possibly hear a judge’s view of the case at an early stage.  While a judge may offer preliminary opinions on the issues, no binding decision will be made on a substantive issue in your case. Obtaining a judge’s feedback can be helpful because it allows the parties to see their arguments from a different point of view and possibly reassess the strength of their claims. In turn, this may help to resolve matters through negotiation or mediation. Photo credit: Diane Webb What Can I Expect at My Case Co...

Changing Child Support In a previous post I wrote about a motion to change. A person would start a court proceeding with a motion to change when they already have a separation agreement with an estranged or ex-spouse, but they want to change something that was agreed to.  In Ontario, the law allows for a change if the payor has experienced a major change in circumstances, such as reduced income or debilitating health problem that prevents them from working as they used to. Kevin Costner Case In the r ecent decision in California , actor Kevin Costner apparently had a marriage contract signed before he married his estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner. In their divorce process , the two disagreed about the amount of child support he should continue paying for their three children. Earlier in the court process, a judge awarded the amount of US$129,000 on a temporary basis. Recently, the pair returned to court to get a final decision. Ms. Baumgartner wanted US$161,592. In the end, t...

Family Law Court Process: The Motion A motion is a litigation tool that helps you manage the court process by allowing you to potentially get a result before a trial. The type of order you seek from a court on a motion is generally an order that temporarily deals with a major issue. It may be the real issue that brought you to court in the first place. If you succeed in your motion, the decision will usually have temporary effect. It is possible, however, that even though the motion may be in advance of a trial, the decision that you want the judge to make could permanently decide the issue. For example, in a vaccination dispute where one parent wants to vaccinate the child(ren) and the other wants to wait, if the pro-vaccination parent is given the decision making power and uses it, this would permanently deal with the matter because they can't un-vaccinate the child afterward. Motions are a major aspect of court proceedings and require much preparation on the ...