Family Law

Predatory marriages have drawn a lot of attention in recent years. They are believed to be on the rise. For families with single, elderly family members, this phenomenon is alarming. For Ontario’s estate litigators, the governing legal principles are infuriating. Too often in the past, the p…

In a recent decision, Hunks v Hunks, 2017 ONCA 247, the Court of Appeal ruled that structured settlement payments received after separation to replace lost wages should be classified as “income” not “property” for the purpose of calculating equalization and support. I…

“Common sense seems to have gone out the window”  Lately there seems to be a trend in which judges have been rendering decisions where they are censoring litigants, counsel and government bodies such as Legal Aid of Ontario. In a recent decision the court found fault with the parties and Leg…

Periodically a client will ask if it is possible to change their child’s last name, from their former spouses’ name to their own, for example changing the child’s last name to their maiden name so the child and parent have the same last name. Firstly to apply to change a child’s name you mus…

Before you issue an Application for relief in family law, you first need to determine the appropriate municipality in which to bring your Application. This article deals with choosing the appropriate municipality within Ontario. For a determination of whether or not Ontario should assume jur…

In a custody and access dispute, the judge is given the important task of deciding what is in the best interests of a child, including who should have decision-making authority and how much time the child should spend in the care of each parent. A judge, however, is limited by the evidence p…

Introduction Name changes in Ontario are governed by the Change of Name Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. 7. As a newly-married spouse, there are two different options if you wish to change your last name: (1) You can simply “assume” your spouse’s last name, or a hyphenated combination of the two, which …

Siskinds Partner Marie Tukara recently argued a motion on how dividend income should be included when calculating income for child support purposes. In this article she outlines the decision and looks at other recent cases on this matter. In Rawluk-Harness v Harness, 2014 ONSC 2531, which I …