So, you’ve filed your paperwork to start a case in an Ontario Family Court. A whole new world awaits you. What should you expect to experience once you enter the process?
Read MoreWhat Happens If I Go to Family Court In Ontario?
Family Court
Can a Spouse Refuse a Divorce in Ontario?
Deciding to end a marriage is one of the most difficult life decisions that a person can make.
Some believe that obtaining a divorce has become too easy, and that the perceived simplicity of the divorce process has encouraged spouses to walk away from marriages that might, otherwise, have survived. The reality is, that most spouses struggle with the decision to divorce for years. And, contrary to popular misconceptions, it can be complex, time consuming, emotionally and financially depleting, and damaging to your children to divorce. The process is, most certainly, far from easy.
Read MoreThe View from A Senior Family Law Lawyer
Why Family Court is Likely Your Very Worst Option
Over the course of decades of practice, I have had many clients step into my office who are ripe and ready for a battle. They have been secretly recording their spouse’s actions and conversations. They have gained access to their spouse’s computer files and accessed private information. They have coached the children to report that they wish to reside with them. They have disclosed to the children the wrongdoings of the other spouse. They have made a journal of all of their spouse’s misdeeds, for weeks or months. They have come to the table with bared fangs. With every one of these interactions, my spirit wilts, for this is the most tortured and unproductive way to approach the end of a relationship; the reorganization of a family or couple’s life and the creation of a healthy future.
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How Does it Work?
Proceeding to Family Court is generally the most time-consuming, hostile and costly technique to resolve Family Law issues. However, in some cases, it is unavoidable. If proceeding to Court, you and your spouse should each retain skilled litigation counsel. You will then prepare and file required Court documentation and place your issues before a judge, for his/her direction or decision in relation to contested matters.
Read MoreWhy is Incivility so Pervasive in the Family Court – Reflections of a Family Law Lawyer
Many of us have a notion of the workings of the Court process, a notion that is generated by various television and movie representations of this noble forum.
Our vision likely includes an elderly and prudent Justice, positioned on an elegant, raised dais, perhaps sporting a powdered wig. There is, inherent in this notion, the view that justice resides within the walls of the Courtroom, that each party will have his or her day in Court and that there will be reason and dignity to the process.
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