The month of March always brings seasonal change, but in the world of Ontario family law, this March is also bringing systemic change. As of March 1st, changes to the Divorce Act and the Children’s Law Reform Act came into force. This month also marks one year since Covid-19 caused our court system to pause and pivot to a primarily online system. When there is this much change all at once, it can be challenging to figure it all out. Here are 10 tips to help make sense of the new changes:
1. The Ontario court forms have been updated and there is no “grace period” for filing the old forms; Anything filed after March 1st must be in the new format or it will be rejected;
2. The specifics for how these forms are to be named and filed varies between levels of court and court locations. It is now necessary to refer three sets of procedural rules for each step in a court case:
a. the Family Law Rules;
b. province-wide practice directions found on the Ontario courts website; and
c. local practice directions,
i. for the Superior Courts of Justice, practice directions listed by judicial region are available on the Ontario Courts website;
ii. for the Ontario Court of Justice, the local practice directions page on the Courts website has not been updated in over a year, but in Toronto you can check for the most recent practice directions on the 393Mediate website and for courts outside Toronto you need to refer to regional lawyer’s association websites;
3. The law relating to child support, spousal support and property division has not changed;
4. The old legal terms “custody” and “access” have been replaced with “parenting orders” about “decision-making”, “parenting time” and “contact”;
5. The new legislation sets out a much broader definition of “family violence” to recognize the true harm that all forms of physical and emotional violence can have on a family, particularly during these pandemic times;
6. There are new more specific rules about what needs to happen when one parent wants to move or relocate with a child, set out at paragraph 16 of the amended Divorce Act and at sections 39.1 to 39.4 of the amended Children’s Law Reform Act and its new Regulation;
7. The changes related to moving or relocating with a child include new notice provisions and new forms for giving that notice and the forms can be found online:
a. on the Department of Justice website for the Divorce Act version (that applies to married spouses), and
b. on the Children’s Law Reform Act forms section of the Ontario court forms website for the provincial version (that applies to non-married spouses or to any party to a court proceeding in the Ontario Court of Justice);
8. Reliable guides about the changes to the federal Divorce Act can be found on the Department of Justice website and for the Ontario Children’s Law Reform Act changes, see Community Legal Education Ontario’s Steps to Justice pages online;
9. These changes to the legislation are new, but those of us who work in family law are already familiar with most of them because they come from trends that have been developing in family law practice both in and out of court over the past few years; and
10. These changes are meant to modernize and streamline family law, but they can be confusing. When in doubt, reach out to a family lawyer for guidance.
Photo by Agnieszka Ziomek on Unsplash