Family
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July 17, 2025
Forms of beneficial ownership: Inheriting gifts as joint tenants, tenants in common
When property is held by more than one person, beneficial ownership takes one of two forms — joint tenancy or tenancy in common. These forms of beneficial ownership also apply when a will leaves a testamentary gift to multiple beneficiaries, regardless of whether the will expressly addresses the intended form of joint ownership. If a will is silent on this point, the form of beneficial ownership will simply be determined through legal presumptions.
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July 17, 2025
The Friendly Bar Series, No. 5: What is a Friendly Bar without a Friendly Bench?
Not long ago, I sat in court as an observer and witnessed what many lawyers quietly know but seldom say aloud: family law litigation can be harrowing, not only for litigants but for the professionals entrusted to guide them.
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July 16, 2025
Unique family law issues: Parents with disabled children
Some years ago, I was engaged in a case where the family had a severely disabled eight-year-old daughter. The daughter was born with multiple health issues and required both home and community support. The matrimonial home had been retrofitted to meet the needs of her wheelchair and other devices necessary to meet her health issues.
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July 16, 2025
The judge’s pen is mightier than the sword
The phrase “The pen is mightier than the sword” was written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in his 1839 play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy. The pen is mighty powerful indeed; however, it never fails to amaze me how kind and gentle the bench can be when writing decisions concerning the behaviour of bad parents.
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July 16, 2025
View from inside prison: Opening the box
I’m not a person who is hugely attached to things. I have no trouble throwing out or giving away old clothes or furniture or even books. But I do tend to hang on to reminders of my past life, such as letters and pictures.
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July 16, 2025
Prepare for change: The plain language legal writing standard is coming
What lawyer has not heard that legal writing should be clear and concise? Everyone wants legal documents to be straightforward, client-oriented and “crisp.” Yet, cryptic memoranda, wordy submissions, legalese-filled judgments and insurmountable walls of text in contracts and policies remain common. Even with clarity in mind, writing clearly is hard without knowing the rules to guide the process.
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July 15, 2025
To marry or not?
Because family law in Canada is regulated at both the federal and provincial/territorial levels, some inconsistencies exist from one part of the country to another. For example, not all provinces and territories have made changes to their statutes to align them with the 2021 changes made to the federal Divorce Act provisions dealing with child-related issues, meaning families have access to different legal regimes depending on where they live.
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July 15, 2025
Home sweet home? Legal, practical guide to LTC vs. retirement homes
As individuals get older, the idea of transitioning to a long-term care home or retirement home becomes relevant depending on the circumstances of the individual. This article will dive into the differences between long-term care and retirement homes and the legal perspectives of such.
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July 14, 2025
Federal Court judge strikes SRL’s submission in employment dispute over AI hallucination citation
In another sign of AI’s growing impact on the law, the Federal Court has ordered that a self-represented respondent’s motion record be removed from a court file because it relied in part on a non-existent court decision hallucinated by an artificial intelligence (AI) research tool.
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July 14, 2025
Federal Court quashes ISC denial of $200,000 Jordan’s Principle mould remediation funding request
The Federal Court set aside an Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) decision denying a $200,000 Jordan’s Principle funding request for mould remediation, ruling that ISC wrongly rejected the request due to lack of comparable public services without assessing the concerned children’s health needs.