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Ontario Court Recognizes importance of Parental Alienation in Divorce Case

A recent case heard in the Ontario Court of Appeal has placed strict punishments – the first of its kind – on a father found to be alienating his children from their mother.

In the case titled C.S. v. M.S., a 2007 decision made by the Superior Court was upheld giving the mother custody of the couple’s youngest child. The original decision also awarded the mother costs of over $320,000, a restraining order against the father for both the mother and child, as well as barring the other three children from their marriage from having access to the youngest child. These decisions were also upheld.

According to the Ontario Court of Appeal decision, there was substantial evidence that the three other children (who are now adults) were alienated from their mother and the youngest child had not yet been alienated but would eventually become a victim of Parental Alienation Syndrome (“PAS”).

PAS is essentially the “brainwashing” of a child against one parent by the other parent, and can have long-term detrimental effects on the well-being of the child and his or her relationships with the parents.

The court found that, “the father has taken aggressive and persistent steps to alienate his other children from their mother. The likelihood of this continuing with [the youngest child] if the father had access to her was virtually certain”.

Court cases are treated on a case-by-case basis and the threshold to meet the test of finding “parental alienation” is high, but this case is very different as the father has been prohibited from having access to the child from the ages of 10 to 18. According to the father’s lawyer, there is no other case in the country in which access to a child from age 10 to 18 has been terminated ever before. The lawyer also mentioned that the move of a Canadian court preventing siblings from contacting each other is very unprecedented when they are not directly involved in the application.

In this case, measures to protect the children and parents against parental alienation almost came too late, however, in the end, the court decided to enforce very strict measures due to the specific set of circumstances. In the future, with this precedent-setting case, the Ontario courts will be forced take a tougher stance against parental alienation.

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Toronto Divorce lawyer can help avoid long, costly court battle

A new study by the former Ontario Chief of Justice has found that one-third of Ontario residents are currently fighting legal problems in civil court.

The survey also looked at the effects of these court issues on people’s health, saying that legal difficulties are disruptive to everyday life, cause immense stress and can affect work. Family and divorce law as well as child custody issues can be the most stressful, according to the report.

Even slightly more alarming, 27 per cent of those facing legal issues like family law disputes had turned to the internet for the majority of their information, while four per cent went to the police. Three per cent of the people utilized a legal aid clinic, but even the study notes that these clinics are more apt to provide assistance for those wrongfully dismissed from work or those who are applying for disability cheques, not those headed for or going through a divorce.

The internet can be a helpful resource, but no website is as knowledgeable or most importantly, as accurate as a family lawyer.

Few divorces are amicable, but not all divorces need to go through the court system in Ontario. A family lawyer can also introduce parties to the collaborative law process, which solves divorce and family law matters. This has both parties settling their problems through their divorce lawyers in an effort to agree upon and negotiate the disputed issues, without going to court. While most people want a relatively painless divorce process, avoiding long, costly divorce proceedings in court is also something very attractive to those facing divorce and custody disagreements.

This is where collaborative law and an Ontario family lawyer come in.

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New Ontario online tool won’t replace a Qualified Family Lawyer

On Monday, May 3rd, the office of the Ontario Attorney General announced that they’ve created a new online, interactive website to assist people in filling out various family and civil law forms, as well as forms that include launching family court cases, obtaining restraining orders and changing child custody agreements.

“We’re making family courts more affordable and less complicated. This new tool simplifies the process and we are also making progress in providing the information upfront to help families make informed decisions,” Ontario’s Attorney General, Chris Bentley said in a press release.

This new website is a part of the promised reform of the Ontario family court system in an effort to make the family court system easier to use. In December, when the overhaul of the system was announced, the government also promised to improve legal advise, provide more support to families and take more steps to prevent an excess of cases from actually going to court.

On the website, a cartoon “assistant” provides information regarding the form you’re about to fill out and information on how to hide your tracks. However, as with most government websites – If you’re working on something and don’t save it within 30 minutes of being idle, it’s gone.

This new system may aid those who are computer savvy, but not everyone involved in family court cases. The selection of forms on the site for family law purposes are also very limited. The site itself is even careful to warn, “a lawyer is in the best position to advise you on your rights and responsibilities in this situation”.

And if any error is made on your form, even accidentally, it may be rejected. A family lawyer is indeed in the best position to advise you on your rights and responsibilities, along with ensuring that the form is accurately and completely filled out.

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Why hire a Toronto family lawyer to do your Prenuptial agreement?

Last week, the issues resulting from the breakup of two common-law relationships found themselves in front of the Supreme Court of Canada after not being able to decide how to divide their assets.

In the first case, the pair split after a 26-year common law relationship. Initially, the common-law wife transferred her home and car to her common-law husband, who then paid them off. The common-law wife suffered a stroke well into their relationship and ended up in an extended care facility while the common-law husband ended up with far more in assets than she had by the time they broke up. She brought action against him claiming spousal support and a division of property on the basis of unjust enrichment – where one spouse gains a valuable advantage over the other. Originally, the Court of Appeal determined that she was not eligible for spousal support.

“The Court of Appeal has lost sight of the fact that he’s better off than she is,” her lawyer argued at the trial.

The second case is an Ontario case where a common-law couple broke up after the common-law husband made millions of dollars when his company was bought out. A trial judge awarded the common law wife a settlement of $1.2 million, as she had stayed home and raised the children so he could spend more time focusing on his business. The court of appeal denied her the award and they are now at the Supreme Court to determine the real value of her sacrifices over the years they were together.

The decisions of both cases are reserved, which means it could take months for the court to actually hand out a ruling.

Common law relationships share the same problems as any other relationship and just because a marriage is not involved doesn’t mean that a breakup is any less messy. A prenuptial agreement and a qualified family lawyer can help make the process much easier.

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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:

• Family law litigants will have greater access to legal advice and the opportunity to resolve issues through the use of mediation, arbitration, and collaborative family law
• Steps to family law litigation will be streamlined and simplified
• Steps to obtaining a restraining order have been modified
• Child support amounts pursuant to either a court order or a domestic contract filed with the court may be recalculated by a child support service to reflect updated income information
• Additional evidentiary requirements must now be met when filing an application for custody or access to a child, including an accompanying affidavit containing a proposed plan for the child’s care and upbringing and information regarding the person’s current or previous involvement in any family law and criminal proceedings
• Every person applying for child custody or access who is not a parent must complete and provide to the court the results of a police records check and a children’s aid society report
• Where a person is declared to be the parent of a child, his or her written consent is required to change the child’s surname, if consent cannot be obtained or is refused an application can be made to the court
• Where a person is declared to be the parent of a child, an application can be made to the court to request that the child’s surname  be changed to any surname that the child could have been given at birth
• The definition of “Net Family Property” has been amended to include any contingent tax liabilities when calculating a spouse’s debts and liabilities on the date of  separation
• “Property” is to include the imputed value of a spouse’s interest in a pension plan

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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Divorce in Ontario: The Matrimonial Home Special Status in Divorce

“Matrimonial Home”  or commonly known as the “Family Home” is defined as any family property in which a person has an interest and that is or was ordinarily occupied by the person and his/her spouse as their “family residence”.

There can be more than one matrimonial home, going by the above definition, and depending on the living arrangements of each couple.
It must be noted that the protection of the entitlement to the matrimonial home under Part II of the Family Law Act in Ontario is only given to married spouses and not common law spouses.

A party only needs to show an “interest” in the property, not necessarily ownership of it. For instance, if a couple lives in a leased property, the leased premises would be a matrimonial home. However, a mere permission or license to occupy a property does not create sufficient interest in that property.

If a corporation holds title to the matrimonial home, the ownership of a share or shares of that corporation, or of an interest in a share or shares in that corporation entitling the owner to occupy a housing unit owned by the corporation, is deemed to be a sufficient interest in the property for pursposes of division of the value of the matrimonial home equally between the spouses.

Property can be real or personal. For instance, a trailer or a house-boat can be a matrimonial home depending on the prevailing facts.

If the parties own two properties, one of which was originally occupied by them as their family residence but at separation, is rented out to tenants, and the other a home which at the time of separation, is used as their family residence, only the latter is considered a matrimonial home for purposes of property division.

When considering a divorce in Ontario, it is important to contact an experienced Family law and divorce lawyer who can advise you about your rights concerning the matrimonial home and other issues of property division. Contact Niren and Associates Family Law Practice at 416 222 4555 or email us at info@divorcesupport.ca

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Child Custody Battle Sparks International Dispute: Canadian Perspective

8 year old Shawn Goldman has been torn apart by his parents divorce. Four years ago he was taken by his mother away from his father in the US to Brazil without the father’s consent.

According to CNN, the mother died while giving birth to a child in Brazil she had from her second husband last summer. The dispute would have presumably ended there, but when Mr. Goldman flew to Brazil to collect his son, he discovered Bruna’s (his ex-wife) husband has petitioned to have Mr. Goldman’s name removed from Shawn’s Brazilian birth certificate, though he was born in New Jersey.

According to the Seattle Times, Mr. Goldman has spent over $360,000 trying to get his son back. The case has so far received significant international attention, but the Brazilian government has been slow in dealing with the matter, despite the 1980 Hague Agreement “which seeks to protect children from the harmful effects of abduction and retention across international boundaries by providing a procedure to bring about their prompt return”.

From our perspective here in Canada, if you plan on taking a child out of the country, especially where there are child custody issues, there are legal family law issues that must be considered.  Not only are there international laws that may be applicable but also Canadian family law relating to custody and access issues. It is therefore imporant to consult a famly lawyer to discuss the legalities of escorting a child outside the jursidiction of his or her residence even if you have consent from the other parent.

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An 18 Year old’s Custody Battle Over Brothers due to Parents’ Divorce

An unnamed 18-year old Mississauga resident has entered a custody with his parents for full custody over his two brothers, ages 12 and 14.

The Toronto Star reported earlier this week that the young man is planning on taking his brothers away from the ” insanity” that has plagued his parents’ divorce proceedings, saying that his brothers are better off living with him on welfare with some subsidies from their parents than to remain in the toxic environment they’ve grown up in.

What has transpired over the course of the last few years sounds like an Orwellian novel.  The divorce proceedings that were involved in this case included  court-sanctioned “deprogramming” for the two young boys, who their mother claimed were being “brainwashed” against her by their father.

The lengths some people will go to hurt others during contested divorce proceedings can be a painful reminder that when you separate from your spouse,  there are others who often get harmed emotionally.  It is therefore important to involve a Family lawyer who understands not only the technical family law issues in divorce matters but also takes into account all parties, immediate and extended family included.

For more information about Divorce and Separation or any other family law matter, contact Niren and Associates Family Lawyers in Toronto at 416 222 4555 or email us at info@divorcesupport.ca

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Welcome to Our Family Law Website and Blog: Niren and Associates Family Lawyers in Toronto

We are pleased to announce our new Family Law website and Family Law Blog.

We hope that you find it enjoyable and informative . You will find lots of useful information about Divorce Law, Child Custody and Access, Separation, Collaborative Law, Prenuptial Agreements and more. We look forward to informing you about the latest developments in Family law and Divorce in Ontario

Feel free to browse our website www.divorcesupport.ca and we encourage you to contact us any time by email at info@divorcesupport.ca or by phone Niren and Associates Family Lawyers in Toronto at 416 222 4555. Our family lawyers are here to help  you with any family law matter including divorce, separation, custody, prenuptial agreement  (or marriage contracts) etc.  Finally, you are welcome to post your comments on our Blog about anything Family law related  and we will do our best to answer all your questions.

Sincerely,

The Legal Team at Niren and Associates Family Lawyers!

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