In support cases, one party will sometimes ask the court to treat the other as though they earn an income they are not actually earning — for example, arguing that a spouse who is not working should be treated as earning at least minimum wage. This is called imputing income. What often gets missed is...Read More
In an Ontario family case, a motion is not usually the first step. The rules push parties toward a case conference first, on the view that most cases settle there and that opening with a motion produces an affidavit war that damages everyone, the children most of all. The approach works. The large majority of...Read More
Two business people agreed to work together on a large government order and to split the profits between them. They did it over text messages and phone calls, across a few days. A written agreement was drafted. It was never signed. When the relationship broke down, the company that walked away argued there had never...Read More
Every family lawyer gets asked this. Usually the client has already done it and wants to know whether it helps. Sometimes there are months of recordings sitting on a phone before anyone thinks to ask. A recent Ontario decision admitted secretly recorded phone calls in a family case, and it is being passed around as...Read More
Most civil cases run on documents. Bank records, text messages, emails, invoices, logs of who accessed what and when. When something important is missing, the explanation is usually ordinary. A file was misplaced. A phone was replaced. A company purged old records on the schedule it has always followed. Occasionally the explanation is not ordinary...Read More
It is the most common instruction a family lawyer hears. Just ask the kids. They know who they want to live with. Ontario courts do listen to children. But a child’s wishes are one input, not the decision. The gap between those two things is where most parents get caught out. How A Child’s Voice...Read More
A will gets read after the only person who can explain it is gone. Sometimes what sits on the page is plainly not what the family understood was intended. Ontario courts can correct a will in that situation. The power is narrower than most people expect, and it turns on a question that has nothing...Read More
Two weeks ago Ontario changed how bail money works. On the last day of August, a court suspended the change. If you or someone in your family is facing a bail hearing right now, here is where things actually stand. What The New Rules Did For as long as most people have dealt with the...Read More
The mortgage is in default. The hydro is going to be cut off next week. Your first court date is in the fall, and it is May. Ontario family court has a rule that catches most people off guard the first time they meet it. You generally cannot bring a motion until a case conference...Read More
A frequent source of confusion in family litigation is the status of an order made early in the case. A party receives a support ruling months before any trial and assumes the question is settled. Often it is not. Many early support orders are interim and made on a without-prejudice basis — and understanding what...Read More
