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Children

CHILDREN MATTER THE MOST!!!!

We are experienced in all areas of decision-making responsibility, parenting time and relocation (formerly known as “custody”, “access” and “mobility”), as well as shared and split parenting, negotiation, mediation and litigation of all children's issues, in Parenting Plans and terms of Separation Agreements dealing with children. 

INFORMATION YOU MAY FIND USEFUL:

  • The Office of the Children's Lawyer (OCL)

What is it?  - The Office of the Children's Lawyer (OCL) is an Ontario government-funded law office (part of the Ministry of the Attorney General) which provides legal services targeted at protecting children's personal and property rights (for children under 18).

What role might the OCL play in my family law case? - The OCL conducts clinical assessments of families (in the context of decision-making responsibility and parenting time disputes, for example) but also provides legal representation (their own lawyer) to children under 18. There may be good reasons why you may want to have the OCL involved in your case and, therefore, they may become involved on consent of both parties.  The OCL may also be involved in your case as a result of non-consent court order.

Who pays for the OCL's services?  - The services of the OCL are free to parties in a family law proceeding provided the OCL agrees to accept the case. The OCL (and not the court) ultimately decides whether the office will become involved in a particular case or not.  This discretion is directly related to the fact that thousands of litigants want to use the free services of the OCL and apply for the OCL's assistance each day.  Based on a review of Intake Forms submitted by the parties, the OCL decides which cases qualify.


"Shared Custody" and "Split Custody"

In general terms, in Ontario the phrase “decision-making responsibility (formerly "custody") refers as the new phrase suggests to decision-making about a child or children. For example, we use the phrases "sole decision-making responsibility" and "joint decision-making responsibility" to describe arrangements based on which either one or both parents make major decisions about a child or children.

The Child Support Guidelines (both federal and provincial) use the phrase "custody" in a different way and this occasionally caused confusion for parents facing separation, before the changes in terms we use for children’s arrangements came into effect on March 1, 2021.

In that legislation, the phrases "shared custody" and "split custody" refer to a child's or children's residential arrangements rather than the basis on which the child's or children's parents made decisions about them.

Shared custody is a situation in which each of the parents has residence of or access to a child or children for at least 40% of the time. Special child support considerations apply in such situations and in the Federal Child Support Guidelines, those considerations are addressed by section 9.

Split custody is a situation in which each parent has custody of one or more of the children (for split custody to apply, there must be at least two children). Again, the Guidelines provide for a specific mechanism for addressing child support in those situations, under section 8.


United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child

Children have a right to express themselves in cases involving their welfare custody and access, to the extent that they are capable of doing so given their age and maturity.

Canada is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations) which, at Article 12, states as follows:

  • 1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

  • 2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.

 Family Law is complex....get THE RIGHT legal advice.