There are two types of Powers of Attorney available under the Substitute Decision Act enacted in 1992. One is a power of attorney over property. The term “Property” can be misleading to the average lay person. “Property” does not refer to simply real estate and a home but rather anything of value that the grantor […]
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What is the Difference between a Temporary Order, a Final Order and a Without Prejudice Order.
A temporary (aka interim order) is one made by the court at a motion. This usually is based upon the judge reading the written evidence given by the parties through affidavits and listening to the arguments made by the parties lawyers. These temporary orders last until they are replaced by a final order of the […]
Read MoreSpousal Support – How Long Will it Last?
There are many factors that are taken into account in determining how long spousal support shall run. In the absence of an agreement and if the court is asked to impose a time limit it looks to many different factors. Those factors include: SSAG ( Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines) Length of relationship (often the duration […]
Read MoreHow to Make a Marriage Contract Binding
As we have discussed elsewhere in this blog, the best defence against an attack on the validity of Marriage Contract, is that its terms were fair. There are many other factors that are involved, but more often than not, no other provision is as important. We often will force our clients to be more generous […]
Read MoreSecret Taping & Video as Evidence
The courts have taken a very dim view of secretly recording telephone calls, video taping and private investigator’s reports being admissible in family law actions. In a series of decisions, including one of this author’s favourite judges, Justice Sherr of the Ontario Court of Justice (the man deserves to be on the Court of Appeal […]
Read MoreForgivable Loans – Are they Income or Property?
In another blog article, we discussed Restricted Share Units (RSU). These are examples of a golden handcuff by an employer to buy the loyalty of an employee. Another example of such golden handcuffs are forgivable loans. These are commonly offered to financial planners who move from one large investment house or bank to another. The […]
Read MoreCommon Law Property Rights – This Time She Lost and Why
Why you Need a Co-habitation Agreement We have posted a number of blog articles already on the topic of property rights between common-law couples. As a prime example, when does a common law spouse acquire an interest or claim against property (often a home) of the other spouse. The catch phrase in justifying these claims […]
Read MoreLump Sum Arrears Payment of Support – Is It Tax Deductible
Child support for many years, is neither tax deductible on the part of the payor nor subject to tax in the hands of the recipient. However, spousal support payments have always and continue to attract this tax treatment. Specifically, if you are paying spousal support, you get to deduct that and if you are […]
Read MoreJustice Marvin Kurz appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice effective December 2, 2015.
Justice Marvin Kurz was called to the bar in 1983. For over 25 years, he has been a partner at the firm Dale, Streiman Law LLP, working in family law, civil litigation and human rights. Previously, he worked as an associate at the firms of Pinkofsky, Lockyer and Kwinter, and Zuker, Dale and Streiman. Justice […]
Read MoreMarh/Mahr or Islamic Marriage Contract
In an interesting decision in January 2015, Justice Walters refused to recognize a Marh/Mahr written entirely in Arabic. The Husband and Wife were born in Afghanistan and Iran respectively. They were married in a Muslim ceremony in Germany, where the Marh/Mahr was signed. However, neither party spoke, wrote or read Arabic. Neither party received independent […]
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