New and exciting alternative dispute resolution for divorcing couples?

Alternative dispute resolution instead of going to court

An article appeared in the Woodstock Sentinel-Review recently that showcased a “unique” and “different” way to resolve divorce issues.

The method? Mediation or alternative dispute resolution. It’s actually not new and it’s not unique. It is however, gaining in popularity because it puts both spouses in the “driver’s seat” and helps to reduce the backlog in the Ontario Family Court system by diverting cases that would otherwise go to court because of disagreements between the spouses. In turn, it costs the divorcing couple less money than a heated and time-consuming court battle. It can be an ideal option for divorce in almost any case, with the only real exceptions being situations where domestic abuse is involved.

 Alternative dispute resolution with an Ontario family lawyer

Another interesting point with the article was it profiled a business in London that offered mediation and alternative dispute resolution services from someone with a “background in finance” – not a family law professional. While divorce can involve complicated financial issues, it also involves aspects of Ontario family law: child custody, spousal support, division of assets, prior legally-binding arrangements like prenuptial agreements as well as the different issues that apply to common-law marriage. Who would you rather have dealing with your alternative dispute resolution?

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By heather - Last updated: Monday, December 6, 2010
Filed in Alternative dispute resolution, Current trends, Divorce, Divorce Lawyer, Mediation •


Ontario Chief Justice expands on family law comments

Earlier this fall, Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler said that the Ontario Family Law system was desperately in need of an overhaul, and suggested that mediation become mandatory in divorce disputes before couples head to court.

In recent interview with Law Times magazine, Winkler expanded on these comments, saying that the main reason family law overhaul is so desperately needed is that family law rulings seriously affect the lives of whole families and mistakes can ruin lives, denying parents access to children and creating detrimental repercussions to family relationships.

He said that education and awareness on the family law process is necessary for couples to be successful during mediation, and that those involved need to desire a positive outcome for all parties or it won’t be successful as a solution.

The family court system is extremely strained, and wait times are already too long for heated divorce cases that really need to court system to be processed.

He added, “when we introduced mandatory mediation as part of the civil justice reform, it reduced the waiting time to trial by two-thirds. I’m confident it will reduce the inventory of family law cases and free up judges for trials and I’m sure it will be in the best interests of the parties by making the system better, cheaper and quicker.”

Other provinces are making progress in family law changes, with Alberta recently attempting to change the definition of parent in family law cases to allow for easier custody resolutions with parents who used assisted reproduction methods, and British Columbia attempting to change its family law system to catch up with modern times. However, no province has officially proposed a major family law system reform with regards to how cases go through the court system.

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By heather - Last updated: Sunday, November 28, 2010
Filed in Divorce, Family Law Changes Ontario, Mediation •


Parliament is back in session: What does this mean for family law?

Canadian Members of Parliament returned to the House of Commons this last week Monday as Parliament resumes for the fall.

CBC News held a poll on their website asking Canadians what the most important issues to them were from a selection of pre-determined categories like the federal long-gun registry, healthcare, Afghan detainee transfers and the mandatory long-form census. Surprisingly, family law reform was not on the list but many of the 2500 Canadians who responded wrote it in themselves saying it should be a top priority.

Family law reform has yet to be touched upon as Parliament has focused on taxes, prisons, the census and the purchasing of $16 billion worth of fighter jets since returning.

Canadian family law reform as a whole is a slow process because it’s unfortunately not a top priority. For example, Bill C-422 is among the top 100 private member’s bills currently after undergoing its first reading over a year ago. This bill deals with mandating equal shared parenting unless it’s not in the best interests of the child, to promote the fact that children benefit from relationships with both their parents and to eliminate parental alienation, amending the Canadian Divorce Act in a very positive way.  However, a bill in this position with little attention and support will likely not be debated until next fall. Members of the public can contact their MPs and let them know that this issue is important to them to garner extra support.

A recent review by Ontario’s Law Reform Commission that interviewed social workers, family lawyers, judges and mediators suggested family law reform should definitely be a top priority, and a recent comment by Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler also pointed out that creating a mandatory mediation process before family cases go to court would save families unnecessary financial hardship and emotional stress.

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By heather - Last updated: Sunday, September 26, 2010
Filed in Child Custody in Ontario, Divorce, Family Law Changes Ontario, Mediation, child custody •


Ontario Chief Justice Calls For Mandatory Family Law Mediation

Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler recently gave a speech to headline the official opening of Ontario courts for the year, and used it as an opportunity to call for more changes to Ontario’s family law system.

Justice Winkler said that making it mandatory for cases to go through mediation before heading to family court would be a big step in having less expensive and faster resolutions to complicated divorce disagreements like custody battles, as well as make it easer to obtain information such as the financial records of a spouse.

“Accordingly, only in the event that the alternative dispute resolution process is unsuccessful would access to the costly, time-consuming, adversarial and sometimes acrimonious court process be available to litigants,” he said in his speech.

Winkler also said he doubted that improvements could be made through adjusting Ontario’s family law system, and that a complete overhaul that included his proposed rule was necessary.

Such a proposal would filter out cases that take up a lot of the court’s time by having them resolved out of court beforehand, freeing up court resources for difficult cases that must go through the court process.

This type of resolution has become mandatory in many areas of the world. According to the Sydney Sunday Telegraph, only about five per cent of family law-related cases end up in court because alternative dispute resolution is mandatory in Australia.

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By heather - Last updated: Sunday, September 19, 2010
Filed in Family Law Changes Ontario, Mediation •


Ontario man running for family law changes

Dave Nash is running across Canada to increase awareness of the current issues within the family law system.  Nash spent four years trying to resolve a custody dispute with his ex-wife in order to get shared custody of his son, and the people along his route that give him food, water or a place to stay have revealed similar experiences.

The Cross Canada Run for the Children will end in Cape Spear, Newfoundland, after beginning in Victoria, British Columbia – a distance of almost 7,300 kilometers to support the reform of Canadian family law and Bill C422.

Bill C422 is a private members bill that supports equal shared parenting in child custody disagreements, and the Bill had its first reading in parliament on June 16th, 2009. If passed, equal shared parenting between both parents would be the normal, or default situation assigned by the court in order to allow the children an equal relationship with both parents unless there is a safety concern. Also, the Bill would make it mandatory for parents to attend mediation prior to proceeding through the court system as a last resort to protect children from lengthy custody battles.

If Nash, from Guelph, completes his run before September 1st, he will have broken the World Record for the Fastest Crossing of Canada on Foot. He chose to break the Guinness World Record of 72 days to cross Canada on foot, because a non-custodial parent will typically spend on average 72 days per year with their child or children.

 

 

 

 

 

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By heather - Last updated: Sunday, August 15, 2010
Filed in Child Custody in Ontario, Child Visitation, Divorce, Family Law Changes Ontario, Mediation •


BC continues to improve its family law rules, will Ontario be next?

British Columbia recently announced that the province is set to propose additional rights for common-law couples, and is also continuing to announce different amendments it plans to enact pursuant to its Family Relations Act.

Property and asset division rules for common-law couples were part of the major changes in B.C. These changes are necessary as there have been a growing number of couples that are choosing not to marry but to remain common-law relationships and, upon separation, if not on title, may not have any rights to the family property.

Other changes to the Act include the introduction of “parenting co-ordinators” during heated child custody cases. In addition, it will now be possible for a child to have more than two legal parents, which will be the first change of its kind in the whole country. This would be the case, for example, when a same-sex male couple has used a surrogate female to have a child and all three would be legal parents if they’re in agreement. The same could be said for a same-sex female couple and a male sperm donor, if all three are active parents of a child.

Spousal support will be able to continue after a paying ex-spouse’s death, if applicable.

Restraining orders available through the court would now be protection orders that are enforceable under the Criminal Code.

As well, parties intending to go to court over property and child custody disputes will need to first show an attempt to negotiate a settlement through the use of out-of-court methods such as mediation.

It’s been 30 years since British Columbia has made any changes to its Family Relations Act.  The recent changes will update the Act to deal with the evolving family structure to include common-law couples, same-sex couples as well as surrogacy and sperm donors.

 

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By heather - Last updated: Sunday, August 15, 2010
Filed in Child Support, Child Visitation, Common Law Marriage, Divorce, Family Property Division, Mediation, Same Sex Marriage, Separation Agreements, Support Orders •


More Ontario residents choosing out-of-court methods to resolve family law issues

According to a number of Ontario lawyers and professional mediators, an increasing number Ontario residents are taking their family law cases to alternative dispute resolution, including mediation and collaborative law. Alternative dispute resolution is a cost-effective alternative to the cost of litigating a family law matter in court, which is no longer within means for most people.

Alternative dispute resolution also provides a quicker resolution to a family law matter than litigation and provides parties with an opportunity to be heard and the ability to control negotiations. Parties are able to come to agreements, as opposed to having a resolution forced upon at least one party by a judge.

In mediation, a third party with special training, such as a background in social work, will assist both parties in making decisions. Lawyers are usually retained by the parties for advice in these cases, while in arbitration an arbitrator will meet with the parties’ respective lawyers. In collaborative law, parties’ lawyers will work to finalize an agreement that is acceptable for both parties, although if issues cannot be resolved the lawyers cannot be retained for any future court proceedings.

In 1999, the Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program was introduced in Toronto, Ottawa and Windsor. Mediation is an option that must now be considered in civil disputes at those locations. Mandatory mediation was not extended to family law cases because in some instances, such as domestic violence cases, mediation may not be a possibility.

In addition to its cost-effectiveness, alternative dispute resolution also removes children of separated parents from any exposure to the court process, and it enables adults, who were once children of their parents’ long, drawn out divorces, to go through their own family law dispute without lengthy litigation.

 

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By heather - Last updated: Sunday, August 1, 2010
Filed in Child Custody in Ontario, Child Support, Child Visitation, Collaborative Law, Common Law Marriage, Divorce, Divorce Lawyer, Family Property Division, Mediation, Separation Agreements, Spousal Support, Support Orders, Toronto Divorce Lawyers, Toronto Family Lawyers •


2010 Brings Major Changes to Family Law in Ontario

Commencing March 1, 2010, the McGuinty government will be implementing major reforms to a variety of Family Law matters in Ontario.  The reforms have been introduced with the objective of improving the public’s access to justice in family courts.

The following are some highlights of the changes that will take effect under the new legislation:

Full details of the upcoming reforms are still to be released by the government.

Check back to our blog for further details once the family law changes come into effect on March 1, 2010.

For further information on family law and divorce contact us at info@divorcesupport.ca or call us at 416 222 4555

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By candice - Last updated: Monday, January 4, 2010
Filed in Child Custody in Ontario, Child Support, Child Visitation, Cohabitation Agreements, Collaborative Law, Common Law Marriage, Divorce, Family Law Changes Ontario, Family Property Division, Marriage Contracts, Mediation, Prenuptial Agreements, Separation Agreements, Support Orders, Toronto Family Lawyers • Tags: