Family

  • May 27, 2026

    A declaration without a remedy? Not quite: Late challenges to separation agreements

    A spouse who waits years to challenge a separation agreement may discover that even a successful application under s. 56(4) of the Family Law Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.3 gets them nothing. The application to set aside is timely. The equalization claim is not.

  • May 27, 2026

    Family court system continues to fail Ontarians

    There are moments in legal practice that leave a lasting impression — not because the law was difficult, or because the facts were complicated, but because the system itself failed the very people it was designed to protect.

  • May 27, 2026

    AI v. immigration lawyer: Playing ‘Beat the Champ’

    These days, there is a lot of chatter about AI replacing jobs — even those of professionals like doctors and lawyers. But the role of AI isn’t really to prepare a case for someone; there is far too much nuance to the practice of immigration law, and to what makes most cases successful, than can be boiled down to a formula that can be followed by AI. That said, more and more of the initial vetting of ideas regarding what kinds of status one might qualify for is being done through AI, with mixed results.

  • May 27, 2026

    More concerns about the SCC’s Ahluwalia decision

    I have a friend (yes, indeed, I have a couple) who practises personal injury law. This past weekend he called me after reading about the Ahluwalia decision (Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16). He visited and over tea, he asked me a simple question (really, a couple).

  • May 26, 2026

    Saskatchewan regulator lists upcoming legal conferences

    It will be a jam-packed June of legal conferences at the Law Society of Saskatchewan, featuring sessions on child well-being in mediation, tribunal decision writing and the drafting of legislative documents in the environmental realm.

  • May 26, 2026

    Coercive control: The harm hidden behind closed doors

    I was part of the earlier cohort of lawyers in England and Wales when coercive control was criminalized under s. 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. I still remember showing up at court in those early days of the newly criminalized offence and reviewing charge sheets where both defence counsel and Crown prosecutors were trying to navigate entirely new legal territory.

  • May 26, 2026

    Federal Court direct IRCC to decide residency application after 7-year delay

    The Federal Court has ordered Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to decide a spousal sponsorship permanent residence application within 90 days, finding the government failed to adequately explain why the application had remained unresolved for nearly seven years.

  • May 26, 2026

    Canada is moving too slowly on coercive control in elder abuse cases

    Canada is on the verge of closing a significant gap on how the law understands abuse. Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, would create a standalone criminal offence for coercive and controlling conduct in intimate partner relationships, recognizing that a pattern of non-physical behaviour can be as harmful as a single act of violence. This shift reflects growing legal recognition of coercive control as a serious form of family violence, most notably in the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16.

  • May 26, 2026

    MARITAL OR FAMILY PROPERTY - Equalization or division

    Appeal by Janif from an order dismissing her claim for unequal division of family property. Janif owned a townhouse prior to the marriage, which was excluded property, but the increase in its value during the relationship constituted family property. The only issue at trial was whether equal division of that increase would be significantly unfair.

  • May 25, 2026

    N.S. Appeal Court examines ‘natural justice’ in child parenting case

    Lawyers must speak up about irregularities in the processes of trial proceedings, says one involved in a family law matter where a mother was denied “natural justice” after being made to testify ahead of those challenging her in court.