800 plain-language Q&As about family. Browse below, or search the whole library.
Child support does not automatically end at age 18 in Ontario. Under both the Divorce Act and the Family Law Act, support can continue for a child who…
Read the full answer →A legal obligation to pay child support exists independently of any court order. Under Ontario's Family Law Act, every parent has a legal duty to…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, child support orders are automatically filed with the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) unless both parents file a written agreement to…
Read the full answer →The Child Support Guidelines apply to all families regardless of income level. When a payor's annual income exceeds the top of the Guidelines table —…
Read the full answer →Child support doesn't automatically stop just because a child is placed in temporary care and custody with a children's aid society - the underlying…
Read the full answer →Child support in all Ontario divorces — contested or uncontested — is calculated using the federal Child Support Guidelines. These guidelines set a…
Read the full answer →A significant involuntary decrease in income can be grounds to vary a child support order, but the reduction does not happen automatically. You must…
Read the full answer →When a payor's income increases, the child support obligation typically increases as well, because the Guidelines table amount is tied directly to…
Read the full answer →Lump-sum child support is legally possible in Ontario but courts award it sparingly. The default under the Child Support Guidelines is periodic…
Read the full answer →Generally, a new partner's income does not directly affect how much child support a payor owes. The Child Support Guidelines calculate support based on…
Read the full answer →Yes. Child support and parenting time (formerly called access) are legally separate obligations in Ontario. A payor parent does not get to reduce or…
Read the full answer →Calculating child support for a self-employed payor is often the most contested part of a support dispute. The Guidelines require full financial…
Read the full answer →Yes, and this kind of history is often some of the strongest evidence a grandparent can bring to a contact application. Regular childcare - picking the…
Read the full answer →Yes — a child's own views are one of the factors a court or the registrar can take into account, and the older and more mature the child, the more…
Read the full answer →Yes, a child's own views and preferences are one of the factors a court considers under the best-interests test, though how much weight they carry…
Read the full answer →Family arbitration is a voluntary, consent-based process, so both spouses generally need to agree on who will act as the arbitrator; it isn't something…
Read the full answer →Since 2021, the Divorce Act contains an explicit definition of family violence that goes well beyond physical harm — it expressly includes a pattern of…
Read the full answer →Yes. Pets can be addressed in a cohabitation agreement, and doing so is increasingly common. Under Ontario law, pets are legally treated as personal…
Read the full answer →Yes. A cohabitation agreement can explicitly preserve assets you intend to leave to children from a previous relationship by treating those assets as…
Read the full answer →Yes. Separated common-law or married partners in Ontario can enter into a domestic contract — specifically a separation agreement — at any time after…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, a religious ceremony without civil solemnization does not create a legal marriage. To be legally married, a couple must obtain a marriage…
Read the full answer →Under Ontario's Family Law Act, a cohabitation agreement that was made while the parties were living together automatically becomes a marriage contract…
Read the full answer →Yes, this is exactly the situation where a cohabitation agreement is most useful. When one common-law partner owns the home and the other does not, the…
Read the full answer →The cost varies depending on the complexity of the couple's financial situation, whether both parties negotiate or simply sign what one party's lawyer…
Read the full answer →Yes, a properly made cohabitation agreement is legally binding and enforceable under Ontario's Family Law Act. To be valid, it must be in writing,…
Read the full answer →Yes. There is no requirement under Ontario's Family Law Act that a cohabitation agreement be signed before the couple moves in together. Couples who…
Read the full answer →A cohabitation agreement in Ontario does not have an automatic expiry date — it remains in effect indefinitely unless it is revoked or superseded. This…
Read the full answer →Yes. Financial disclosure is one of the most critical requirements for a cohabitation agreement to withstand challenge. The Family Law Act lists…
Read the full answer →Immigration to Canada is federal, and a cohabitation agreement — a provincial family law document — does not directly affect your immigration status.…
Read the full answer →Yes, blended family situations add complexity that a cohabitation agreement is well-suited to address. If one or both partners have children from a…
Read the full answer →Yes, mediation is a recognized and useful option for couples who want help negotiating the terms of a cohabitation agreement. A family mediator is a…
Read the full answer →For common-law couples in Ontario, each partner already keeps their own separately owned property when the relationship ends, because common-law…
Read the full answer →A cohabitation agreement is not legally required to buy a home together, but it is strongly advisable. Without one, the legal ownership of the home is…
Read the full answer →Under Ontario's Family Law Act, a domestic contract — including a cohabitation agreement — must meet three formal requirements to be valid: it must be…
Read the full answer →Yes, a cohabitation agreement can include a clause by which both partners waive the right to claim spousal support from each other. This is expressly…
Read the full answer →Yes, it is a good idea to address existing student loan debt in a cohabitation agreement, particularly if one partner carries significantly more debt…
Read the full answer →A cohabitation agreement can include provisions addressing what happens on death — for example, confirming that each partner retains their own…
Read the full answer →Yes. A cohabitation agreement, like any domestic contract under Ontario's Family Law Act, can be amended or revoked at any time by mutual agreement of…
Read the full answer →Both are types of domestic contracts recognized under the Family Law Act, and they serve a similar purpose — allowing a couple to set their own rules…
Read the full answer →A cohabitation agreement is a written contract between two people who are living together or planning to live together but are not married. In Ontario,…
Read the full answer →A cohabitation agreement should be tailored to the couple's specific circumstances, but certain core topics appear in most well-drafted agreements in…
Read the full answer →Ontario law does not require a common-law partner to sign a cohabitation agreement, and there is no legal mechanism to compel them to do so. If your…
Read the full answer →Technically, the Family Law Act requires only that a domestic contract be in writing, signed by both parties, and witnessed — it does not explicitly…
Read the full answer →Collaborative family law is a structured approach to separation in which both spouses and their lawyers commit in writing to resolving all issues…
Read the full answer →Yes. Child support is a right of the child and is not affected by whether the parents were married or in a common-law relationship. Both biological and…
Read the full answer →Yes, but this is a federal benefit, not a provincial one. The Canada Pension Plan recognizes a common-law partner as a spouse if the couple cohabited…
Read the full answer →Generally, each person is liable only for debts in their own name. Unlike some aspects of marriage, common-law status in Ontario does not automatically…
Read the full answer →Ontario law does not use one single definition of "common-law" for every purpose. The threshold varies depending on which statute applies to your…
Read the full answer →Yes. Common-law partners have the same access to protective orders as married spouses under Ontario law. The Family Law Act allows either party in a…
Read the full answer →If your name is not on the property title, you do not have automatic ownership rights simply because you are a common-law partner in Ontario. Unlike…
Read the full answer →Only if the relationship meets the qualifying threshold. Under the Succession Law Reform Act, a common-law spouse who has cohabited continuously for at…
Read the full answer →There is no automatic right in Ontario to take a partner's last name as a result of a common-law relationship. In Ontario, a legal name change requires…
Read the full answer →Yes. Ontario's social assistance programs use household income and assets when assessing eligibility and benefit amounts. Under Ontario Disability…
Read the full answer →Whether a common-law partner is covered under an employer's group benefits plan depends entirely on the terms of the plan, not Ontario family law…
Read the full answer →This depends on the type of pension and the governing legislation. For married couples in Ontario, the Family Law Act entitles a spouse to include…
Read the full answer →No. This is one of the most significant differences between marriage and common-law relationships in Ontario. Married spouses have a statutory right to…
Read the full answer →Common-law couples in Ontario share some rights with married couples but have important gaps. On the similar side: both can claim spousal and child…
Read the full answer →Yes. You can designate any person, including a common-law partner, as the named beneficiary of your RRSP. When a beneficiary is named directly on the…
Read the full answer →There is no formal government process to "dissolve" a common-law relationship the way divorce ends a marriage. Common-law couples simply separate —…
Read the full answer →No. The divorce process — and the Divorce Act itself — applies only to legally married spouses. Common-law couples, no matter how long they have lived…
Read the full answer →Yes, once a couple meets the qualifying threshold under the Family Law Act — three continuous years of cohabitation, or a relationship of some…
Read the full answer →Tax filing is federal, not provincial. Under the Income Tax Act, you must report your relationship to the Canada Revenue Agency once you have lived…
Read the full answer →Under the Family Law Act, a common-law couple must have "cohabited continuously" for at least three years to qualify for spousal support (absent a…
Read the full answer →Yes. Where there's a history of family violence or coercive control, a family court can order that co-parenting communication happen only through a…
Read the full answer →Where both parents raise undue hardship claims at the same time, a court generally assesses each claim on its own merits first, confirming whether each…
Read the full answer →Yes. A parent's compliance, or lack of it, with a safety plan put in place by a children's aid society can become relevant evidence in a parenting…
Read the full answer →It can, but not necessarily in a way that dooms the application - courts try to separate conflict between the adults from what's actually good for the…
Read the full answer →A criminal record, or the absence of one, isn't decisive either way — family court operates on a different standard of proof than criminal court, and a…
Read the full answer →Yes, this is a recognized defense under the Hague Convention, but it requires clear evidence that the other parent genuinely consented to the move, or…
Read the full answer →A finding of contempt gives a judge broad discretion to fashion a remedy that fits the seriousness and pattern of the breach, rather than a single…
Read the full answer →It's possible, but it depends heavily on what the order actually says. Contempt requires a clear, specific term that was deliberately breached, so if…
Read the full answer →A parent generally should not be found in contempt of a parenting order where a children's aid society's intervention genuinely made compliance…
Read the full answer →Generally, no, or at least not easily. Contempt requires the underlying order to be clear and unambiguous about what was required, precisely because a…
Read the full answer →A contempt motion asks the court to find that someone deliberately disobeyed a clear court order, and Ontario courts treat this as a serious step, not…
Read the full answer →Consistently returning a child late can support a contempt motion, but the same core requirements apply as with any other alleged breach of a parenting…
Read the full answer →These two tools serve different purposes, even though both can come up when a parenting order isn't working as intended. A contempt motion asks the…
Read the full answer →Generally, no, there isn't a fixed, legislated cooling-off period the way there might be for certain consumer contracts, where a buyer automatically…
Read the full answer →Yes. Where a payor is a shareholder, officer, or director of a corporation, particularly a closely-held or family business, a court can order…
Read the full answer →Court filing fees for these two kinds of steps aren't necessarily different simply because one involves a non-parent - both a new contact application…
Read the full answer →In limited circumstances, yes. While costs orders are normally made against the actual parties to a case, a court retains discretion in appropriate…
Read the full answer →Yes. Ontario family courts have broad discretion under the Family Law Rules to award costs, and bringing a motion that turns out to be unnecessary,…
Read the full answer →Generally, no. The Family Responsibility Office is specifically focused on enforcing child and spousal support obligations under court orders and filed…
Read the full answer →Yes, though this is uncommon and reserved for serious situations. Ontario courts have the power to order costs against a lawyer personally, rather than…
Read the full answer →Costs are far less commonly an issue in a genuinely uncontested or amicable case, since costs disputes usually arise from contested steps like motions…
Read the full answer →Yes. Costs on a specific motion are generally decided based on that motion itself — who brought it, how it was handled, and how it was ultimately…
Read the full answer →Yes, in appropriate circumstances. While a costs order is generally expected to be paid promptly once made, a court has discretion to allow payment in…
Read the full answer →Yes. Financial disclosure obligations are taken seriously in Ontario family court, and a party who fails to provide required financial disclosure,…
Read the full answer →Yes. Where a conference or hearing has to be adjourned because of the other party's conduct — for example, they failed to file required materials on…
Read the full answer →Yes, a court can order a child's name changed even over one parent's strong objection, but it isn't a routine outcome — the court applies the…
Read the full answer →Yes. Ontario's parenting law allows a court to order contact between a child and a non-parent where that's in the child's best interests, and a…
Read the full answer →Yes, once a court has found a parent in contempt for denying parenting time, ordering a specific make-up schedule is a natural and common part of the…
Read the full answer →Not directly. A family court's authority in a parenting case is over parenting time, decision-making responsibility, and support - it doesn't include…
Read the full answer →It depends on whether everyone who needs to consent actually agrees. Where all parents, or others with decision-making responsibility or parenting…
Read the full answer →Ontario family courthouses generally have a Family Law Information Centre, staffed to give free general information about family court process, forms,…
Read the full answer →Before hiring a family arbitrator, it's worth confirming they have the specific qualifications Ontario's framework requires for this role, including…
Read the full answer →Not automatically — a peace bond is a criminal court order, and a family court dealing with parenting time and decision-making responsibility doesn't…
Read the full answer →Cryptocurrency trading gains are generally treated the same way any other investment or trading income would be under the Federal Child Support…
Read the full answer →Courts weighing whether to order retroactive child support generally look at four factors, often called the D.B.S. factors after the framework that…
Read the full answer →The Federal Child Support Guidelines recognize unusually high debts reasonably incurred to support the family before separation, or to earn a living,…
Read the full answer →During a parent's parenting time, that parent is responsible for the child's day-to-day care and can make emergency medical decisions without waiting…
Read the full answer →Links go to the official consolidated text. Legislation changes — confirm you are reading the current version.
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