Family
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December 24, 2025
Spousal green cards for out-of-status applicants
In the U.S. today, there are thousands and perhaps millions of people currently without status — a situation that is becoming problematic now that the current presidential administration is focusing on enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. The requirement to maintain a valid status while in a foreign country is not unique to the U.S. Every country in the world has immigration laws, and most enforce them.
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December 24, 2025
Law360 Canada is taking a publishing break and will be back Jan. 2
Law360 Canada will be on a publishing hiatus from Dec. 25, 2025, to Jan. 2, 2026. We wish you a happy holiday and all the best for the new year.
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December 23, 2025
When a judge’s effort to appear neutral leads to injustice
Nobody likes conflict. Not lawyers, not mediators and not judges. But day in and day out, we see high-conflict cases in family court. In fact, it has become a fairly regular occurrence for judges’ endorsements to begin with a description of the case as “a high-conflict case” before rendering their analysis and decision.
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December 23, 2025
CUSTODY, PARENTING, AND ACCESS - Decision-making authority
Appeal by J.A. from trial orders concerning parenting responsibilities, spousal support, child support for his stepson T.J., and reimbursement for missing Euros. Cross-appeal by K.A. from the trial judge’s costs order.
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December 19, 2025
Self-rep fails to convince Appeal Court to cancel $270,000 of support arrears
A case involving more than $270,000 in accumulated child and spousal support arrears, Garousi v. Garousi, 2025 BCCA 392, highlights several recurring issues in applications for retroactive variation of support, including chronic non-compliance, evidentiary shortcomings and the impact of significant arrears on both variation and appellate relief.
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December 19, 2025
A season for sharing: The legal and moral case for ensuring everyone has enough food at Christmas
Every Christmas, families across Canada gather around warm meals that symbolize dignity, community and care. Yet for many households in Alberta and across the country, rising costs and winter pressures make it difficult to afford even the most basic groceries. Food insecurity turns what should be a season of comfort into a time of anxiety.
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December 18, 2025
Is criminalization the way to go to address coercive control?
Gender-based violence is very much on the mind of Parliament this fall.
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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.