Financial Disclosure in Canadian Divorce: What You Need to Know
Divorce can be one of the most challenging experiences in your life. It can lay bare a lot of your emotions, dashed hopes, and deeply-held fears – not to mention your finances. Financial disclosure is a mandatory step in the Canadian divorce process. Both spouses must provide a full and honest account of their financial situation, including income, assets, debts, and expenses. This...
Navigating Divorce and Substance Abuse in Ontario
Divorce is a complex legal process, and it has many emotional repercussions as well. Every couple has its own unique relationship history; each spouse has unique strengths, needs, and shortcomings that they bring to the negotiating table. When substance abuse is part of the mix, the process of divorce can become significantly more complicated. In Ontario, the Family justice system takes a...
Relocation and Family Law in Ontario: What Happens When a Parent Wants to Move with Their Child?
Few issues in family law can be as emotionally charged and impactful as relocation. If you are a separated or divorced parent, and you need or want to move with your child to a new location, it can deeply affect everyone involved – especially the child him or herself. Regardless of whether it’s due to career advancement, family needs, or personal safety, the need to relocate can be legally...
Common-Law Relationships in Ontario: The Essentials
Under Canadian Family law, there are two categories of romantic relationships that are recognized: 1) Formal marriages, and 2) Common-law unions. With common-law relationships in particular, there is often a misconception that the two partners – being unmarried – must simply “walk away” from each other, with no string attached. But this is not quite true. In fact, common-law relationships...
My Spouse Died After We Separated. What Happens to All Our Assets & Debts?
If you’re separated but not divorced, and your spouse suddenly dies, it can add an unexpected layer of complexity to the process of divorce, which is already an emotional and challenging situation. You may wonder how your spouse’s death will affect the division of your marital assets and liabilities, particularly if things weren’t fully settled before they passed away. Understanding how...
Is Tracking Your Spouse’s Phone, or Hacking Their Computer, Illegal?
If you’re going through a separation or divorce, you might be tempted to track your spouse’s phone. These days, it’s easier than ever; plenty of apps can be installed surreptitiously with a few clicks of an “install” button. They run unobtrusively in the background, and can reveal all kinds of information, including: Where your spouse has been, and where they are going in real-time Who they...
Imputing Income – Determining the Proper Quantum of Child and Spousal Support
If you are separating or divorcing from your spouse, you’ll know that a key step in the process is to determine how much annual income each of you earns. Accurately setting those income amounts is important, because it factors into the legal determination of how much spousal or child support must be paid, and by whom. In a perfect world, each of you would both be forthright and honest about...
Are Parents Required to Support Their Adult Children?
Most Ontario parents are already aware that they have a legal obligation to financially support their children until the age of 18 (which is the age of majority in the province). This applies whether the parents are married, never-married, living together common-law, divorced, or separated. But what many parents may not know, is that in some circumstances the obligation to support their child...
High Income Earners and Spousal Support
If you are a high-income earner in the process of divorcing your spouse, you might be wondering about how your support obligations to him or her will be calculated. (This presumes that you and your spouse have not already settled this, through a separation agreement or other domestic contract). There are special principles under Canadian law pertaining to the spousal support payable by...