Family
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December 17, 2025
Bill C-16 must go further for older Canadians
Elder abuse does not always announce itself with bruises or broken bones. Often, it arrives through isolation, intimidation, financial control and fear. For many older victims, coercive control is the harm that shapes daily life long before anyone calls it violence or criminal neglect. It is gradual, cumulative and profoundly destabilizing, yet frequently invisible to outsiders.
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December 16, 2025
Atlantic premiers release report, recommendations on domestic homicide
Atlantic Canada’s premiers have collectively released a decades-long report on domestic homicides in the region — and hope that it will increase prevention. According to a Dec. 11 news release, the Council of Atlantic Premiers (CAP) — made up of leaders from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and P.E.I. — has released Preventing Domestic Homicides in Atlantic Canada: Looking Back to See Our Way Forward.
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December 16, 2025
A plea for more respect from family law practitioners
It has been a very busy fall and, perhaps like you, I have been hanging on for the Christmas break. For me, it is the best time of the year. In my experience, it is the only time when most if not all family law clients and their lawyers try to step back, take a breath and treat each other with the respect and courtesy that should be a year-round norm.
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December 15, 2025
Dependent support claims: The overlooked obligation
In Ontario, estate disputes often erupt where families least expect them. At first glance, wills can appear all in order, assets may be simple, and relationships may seem calm … until someone who depended on the deceased person realizes they have not been adequately provided for. At that point, even the simplest will can be challenged through something called a “dependent support claim,” a process under Part V of the Succession Law Reform Act (SLRA) that is quite important to understand in Ontario.
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December 15, 2025
How holiday stress contributes to domestic-related calls and charges
The holiday season is often celebrated as a time of warmth, tradition and togetherness. Yet for many households in Canada, it also brings a unique mix of pressures that can contribute to increased conflict in the home.
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December 15, 2025
CUSTODY, PARENTING, AND ACCESS - Guardianship - Contest between parents and non-parents
Appeal by appellant father from decision of Justice of Court of King’s Bench. This appeal by the Indigenous appellant father arose out of an application for guardianship of his daughter brought by the Child’s maternal uncle and aunt, the brother of the Child’s deceased mother and his wife, under Alberta’s Family Law Act.
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December 12, 2025
The push and pull between testamentary freedom, familial obligations in dependant relief claims
One of the hallmarks of Ontario’s estate planning regime is testamentary freedom. It gives individuals, when drafting and executing their wills and estate plans, the ability to distribute their assets in the manner they see fit.
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December 11, 2025
Using generative AI in court could add up to penny wise, pound foolish
The rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence is causing self-represented litigants to use this tool to conduct legal research and build their legal arguments. However, generative AI has not proven to be a panacea for legal research and, in fact, has led both lawyers and self-represented litigants astray with hallucinated cases.
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December 11, 2025
Stay the course or explain the deviation: Reasons required for judicial departure from AFCC-O Guide
The Ontario chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC-O) originally released its Parenting Plan Guide (the AFCC-O Guide) in January 2020, and a revised version in 2021.
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December 11, 2025
Using expert evidence to determine whether a trust is a sham
When issues arise in litigation that involve specialized knowledge, technical expertise or scientific understanding, it is relatively common for the parties to submit expert evidence to assist the court with making its determinations. Expert evidence may be admissible on a wide range of issues — even specialized legal issues — so long as the evidence is proffered by a properly qualified expert, is relevant and necessary, and is not barred by an exclusionary rule.