It’s not unusual for someone to come see me and have some misconceptions about how the law or the legal process works. Previous articles and columns in LawNow have addressed many of these misconceptions. In this article, I’ll address a few others. 1. I can trade “parental rights” for the obligation to pay child support. […]

Since the introduction of the Federal Child Support Guidelines (FCSG) in 1997, custody arrangements have affected child support obligations for Canadian parents. The greatest flexibility applies to “shared custody” situations. Under the FCSG, a child is in shared custody where each parent “exercises a right of access to, or has physical custody of” the child […]

Two big changes to the legislation on family law are coming next year: one that’s important if you live in Alberta and another that’s important if you’re getting divorced no matter where you live in Canada. Canada’s Divorce Act The federal Divorce Act applies to married couples who are separating and want to get divorced. […]

Never have I ever: set out to engage in high-conflict family litigation. And when I say high-conflict, I mean cases where the parties can’t put their own emotions aside to make good decisions for themselves and their children. Somehow, though, it finds me. Time and again I have tried to minimize the conflict and look […]