Since Arbitrations conducted by Parenting Coordinators (PCs) in Ontario are generally considered “Secondary Arbitration” (Family Law Act, Section 59.7), PCs deal with issues arising from an existing Separation Agreement, Arbitration Award or Court Order.  As such, PCs implement, clarify, interpret, change and/or adapt parenting arrangements as children grow and change. The matter of when and whether PCs should enforce versus clarify or change existing Orders can be controversial, and challenging for PCs and their clients. Besides conflicting over parenting issues, Parenting Coordination (PC) clients often battle with each other over procedural matters, such as whether the PC has the jurisdiction…

By Amir Levine, M.D., and Rachel S.F. Heller, M.A. Penguin Publishing Group, January 5, 2012   How would you rate this book out of five for FDRPs? Sina: At least a 4/5. There are a lot of complicated principles here and this is a very good place to start thinking about them. This is definitely a go-to for anyone who works in any dimension of family law or the practice of relationships. Raheena: I would rank it to 4 to 4.5 /5. If an FDRP reads it as a starting point, I would give it 4.5. As a sole resource,…

Another case from an experienced Ontario Court judge is interesting on the question of costs. Robert Spence, J. finds that the often-cited case of Biant v. Sagoo, 2001 ONSC 28137, (CAN LII), has been disapproved by the Court of Appeal in the more recent case of Beaver v. Hill 2018 ONCA 840 (CAN LII). He is critical of counsel for not bringing this to the Court’s attention. In Biant v. Sagoo, the Court held that costs should generally approach full recovery as long as the successful party has behaved reasonably, and the costs claimed are proportional to the issue(s). In…

Assuming you have properly screened for intimate-partner violence and have established sufficient safeguards either to mediate or arbitrate, then Justice M. Linhares de Sousa’s decision in Moncrieff v. Floresco-Dakin 2019 ONSC 2740  (CANLII)  is instructive on the kind of information you might require when deciding to loosen restrictions on supervised access. In this case, a father, who had committed domestic violence on his partner, wanted unsupervised access to his four-year-old son who was autistic. To support his position, he filed a somewhat dated letter from his former doctor indicating that his mental health prognosis was good, but he needed to…

As mediators and arbitrators, we are frequently called upon to help parties resolve child support issues; in fact, along with parenting, this is likely the “bread and butter” of our work. A recent case, a decision by an experienced family judge, Paulseth, J., from the Ontario Court of Justice, [Smith v. Max 2019 ONCJ 241], released on April 15, 2019, covers the basic issues in a clear, concise manner which provides a good model to follow. After a lengthy period of litigation, the father asked the Court, by way of a motion to change, to reduce child support because his…