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News & Updates

You Said You Wouldn’t Touch My Pension!

Julie Gill
Posted on October 12, 2021 at 11:35 am

So much emotion, negotiating and misinformation tied to pension assets. As a mediator, coach or in my role as a CDFA I regularly hear the statements below. Do they sound familiar to you? It’s my pension, my husband didn’t contribute. It’s not worth much, we don’t need to include it. I don’t want to spend the money or time to get the Family Law Value. It’s his pension, I don’t want to seem unfair. When I hear a client tell me “I already said that I wouldn’t touch his/her pension” my first question is always “Do you know how much…

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Family Dispute Resolution, FDRIO in the News, Mediation, News & Updates

Mediation Discussion – Regulated college or self-regulated institutions?

Posted on July 15, 2021 at 12:49 pm

Over many years, FDR organizations have tried to get traction with the government for the regulation approach to family mediation and they were not interested. As a result, self-regulating FDR organizations have developed comprehensive practice standards, set expectations for training – including domestic violence and power imbalance training, set high certification requirements and a complaints process to protect the public.   On June 22 2021, an article titled Mediation: The unregulated profession written by Gary Joseph was published in The Lawyers Daily. In the article, Mr. Joseph opines that poorly trained mediators are plentiful leading to uninformed participants, sometimes coerced…

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Alternative Dispute Resolution, Family Dispute Resolution, Mediation, News & Updates

Interview: Life after the Bench

Avagene Skervin
Posted on July 12, 2021 at 12:14 pm

Avagene’s one on one with the Honourable Justice Clifford Nelson, retired judge. So, I have always been very interested in knowing just what judges do after they retire; can they simply walk away entirely from a life devoted to law? do they simply turn to golfing? What other stereotypical thoughts come to mind? The impact judges continue to make in the spaces they occupy after the Bench will be surprising for some and enlightening for others. Justice Nelson was more than happy to indulge a few questions from me via a “sit down through emails with me”. I met Justice…

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Mediation, News & Updates

The Problem with Partial Agreements at Mediation

Howard E. Warren, Warren Mediation Group Inc.
Posted on May 17, 2021 at 1:10 pm

  It appears to make sense to try to get the parties to agree on at least some if not all the terms at mediation. The usual areas in play are parenting decision -making (formerly custody), parenting-time (formerly access), child support, spousal support and equalization of net family property. When I first started my mediation practice, I strove for early settlement of the lowest hanging fruit, to get the parties into settlement mode, both to encourage settlement and for them to understand that deals were there to be had. A year or two into my mediation practice, I convened mediation…

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News & Updates

Self-Care is Not Selfish: Self Care for Mediators and Legal Professionals

Kayla M. Stephenson
Posted on May 17, 2021 at 1:04 pm

In the wake of everything that is COVID-19, this pandemic has changed the way we live with all the unknowns and stresses surrounding work, school, childcare, shopping, and our social lives. Self-care is a must, and as a mediator and legal professional we may often come up with reasons why we may not have the time, we may have other duties or responsibilities that require our attention, and of course focusing on trying to keep our mediation or legal practice afloat. COVID -19 has hit everyone in some way shape or form, and it sets unique challenges for all of…

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News & Updates

Article–Seeking Supervisors for the Mediators-In-Training (MIT)

Marie Nickle, Mary Lee and Rachel MacMurchy
Posted on February 25, 2021 at 3:05 pm

The journey to becoming a certified family mediator can be a cumbersome process. A main obstacle that aspiring family mediators come across is securing an internship to complete the required 100 hours of practical experience. With the growth of the family mediation profession, there is increased demand for aspiring Mediator-In-Training (MIT) supervisors. While there are organizations that offer internships to MITs, the waitlists can be long and it can take over a year to start the process. We want to help reduce this limbo period by encouraging family mediator professionals to offer supervision to MITs and help them complete their…

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News & Updates

Access to Justice: Is this still an issue?

Vicky Ringuette
Posted on February 24, 2021 at 6:51 pm

For this edition of the newsletter, we thought it important to write about the two perspectives that have emerged in regard to access to justice in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic. I will be writing from the perspective of technological advances which have potentially eradicated many of the access to justice issues that have plagued our system for decades. My colleague, Kayla Stephenson, will offer you the other perspective that suggests access to justice issues continue to prevail in our Family Justice System despite recent advances made as a result of this pandemic. What is access to justice? I…

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News & Updates

Black History Month: Equality Diversity and Inclusion

Kayla M. Stephenson
Posted on February 24, 2021 at 6:33 pm

Black History Month is about honouring the enormous contributions that Black people have made, and continue to make, over the years in all sectors of society. It is about celebrating resilience, innovation, and determination to work towards a more inclusive and diverse Ontario—and Canada in which everyone has every opportunity to flourish. This February, we are honouring Black History Month and celebrating black history with this month`s theme:  Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at FDRIO. It is important that in our practice, that we are culturally competent when it comes to our profession in the ADR field. As FDRIO members, we…

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FDRIO February 2021 Webinar: Bankruptcy And Matrimonial Matters: BAMM!, with Bob Klotz

Posted on February 16, 2021 at 12:00 pm

Join Bob Klotz as he addresses the following issues: How does bankruptcy work? • Difference between bankruptcy and insolvency • Predicting bankruptcy • How to go bankrupt, and when? • ADR when one spouse is near the precipice of insolvency • Separation Agreements • Void: the 12 mo. preference problem  • The Thibodeau problem • Designing the agreement • Wording • Ethics • ADR when one spouse is bankrupt • Pension/RRSP issues • Negotiating with the Trustee.

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News & Updates

FDRIO’s Annual General Meeting

Posted on December 2, 2020 at 2:50 pm

Our Chair, Neil Maisel, opened up the meeting with a summary of the exceptional year we have had – including the entertaining humour we’ve all come to expect of Neil! FDRIO has, despite the pandemic, had an unexpected good year, a welcomed success considering the world changed back in March: Our membership increased by 25% because of the highly regarded events and programs we offer our members. We plan to continue on this trajectory for the year ahead! Our innovative unConference was moved to a virtual event offering an excellent program that was very well attended. We hosted a Town Hall open to all family dispute resolution…

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FDR Updates, News & Updates

FDRIO Response to Family Legal Services Provider Licence

Posted on December 2, 2020 at 12:57 pm

The Law Society of Ontario (LSO) released a consultation paper on a proposed licensing model for a Family Legal Services Provider (FLSP) licence and invited stakeholders to provide comment.  Over the past 4 months, a committee of FDRIO members has been meeting to analyze the proposed model and form an informed and comprehensive response from FDRIO.  We are thankful to the members of the committee who gave their time, energy and expertise to ensure that the response from FDRIO was representative of our membership.  The FDRIO submission is posted on the website and can be accessed here.

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FDRIO December Webinar: Introducing Settify: The New AI-enhanced Family Law Intake System

Posted on December 2, 2020 at 12:00 pm

Speaker: Edward Kirk Webinar Description: Introducing a new approach to client intake that has changed family law practice internationally, and has recently been adopted by Goldhart & Associate, Epstein Cole, Bales Beall and other top Ontario practices Demonstration of Settify – the AI-enhanced system that gives instant, helpful service to new and enquiring clients, gathers their background information, and briefs lawyers Actionable insights drawn from over 60,000 family law clients regarding the optimal ways to enable them to get started on their matters

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FDRIO October Webinar: Top Ten Technology Tips for Your Next Virtual Arbitration

Posted on October 28, 2020 at 12:00 pm

Presenters: Adam Black and Christine Ashbourne Webinar Description: Following a four-day arbitration conducted entirely over Zoom, Adam and Christine will share their top ten technology tips.  Topics will include preparing your witness for a virtual hearing, conducting a cross-examination and maximizing your valuable desktop real estate.  Adam and Christine will also offer their thoughts about managing Zoom fatigue.

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FDR Updates, News & Updates

What We Meant When We Said “Secondary Arbitration”

Shmuel Stern
Posted on September 10, 2020 at 5:27 pm
Recently, the Supreme Court of Canada in Uber vs. Heller put the commercial world in a tizzy, invalidating a clause that Uber drivers agree to future arbitration in the event of a dispute over their compensation. Meanwhile, the family law bar yawned, knowing all too well that feeling of ineffectual future arbitration clauses.   What we call a “secondary arbitration” clause - a term in a separation agreement (/Minutes of Settlement), court order or arbitration award purporting to direct the parties to arbitrate specific issues arising from that initial document - is near-worthless and even dangerous. “Near-worthless”, in that a... Read More
FDR Updates, News & Updates

Court Orders In-Person School Attendance

Posted on September 10, 2020 at 2:12 pm

On August 25, 2020, newly minted Justice the Honourable Andrea Himel faced a question on the minds of many parents – should a nine-year-old boy attend school or continue online learning at home? The parents of the child, W. C., were both working at home, and there were no other children in their households. The partner of the father is working in an essential service position in the community. There are no underlying medical conditions for anyone in either household, and W.C. is a generally healthy child. Himel J. had some wisdom to impart to the parents calling the urgency…

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