Does That Property Belong To Your Spouse?
March 14, 2024 By Brian Babcock A spouse may not pursue a claim that the other spouse has a beneficial interest in a property held for them. What does this mean? Assume a scenario where there is a married couple. One spouse, A, owns a property which is registered on title as being jointly owned […]
How Clean Must Your Hands Be
February 8, 2024 By Nick Melchiorre In a previous article, we explained the concept of “clean hands” and how equity will not assist someone who the court decides had “unclean hands”. This brings back memories of debates with mothers over just how clean hands had to be. The Ontario Court of Appeal considered this in […]
The Growth Of The Duty Of Good Faith
January 30, 2024 By Nick Melchiorre The duty of good faith performance of contracts continues to be defined by the courts. A recent Ontario Superior Court judgment applies it to minutes of settlement in a matrimonial dispute. It also applies it more broadly to the exercise of discretion under the agreement. THE CASE In Bross […]
Joint Tenancy Debt
September 25, 2023 By Mark Mikulasik THE ISSUES You are owed money by someone who owns a home in joint tenancy- how much can you collect from the sale of the home? Or, on the other side, your spouse is a joint tenant with you and cannot pay their debts. Can their creditors seize your […]
Punitive damages: Bigger is not Always Better
August 11, 2023 By Jonathon Clark We have written before about Punitive Damages. How much are they worth? In Canada, punitive damages are paid to Plaintiffs where the wrongdoer, in addition to causing actual (compensatory) damages, carried on in a way that was callous, highhanded, malicious or vindictive. They are further limited by the requirement […]
Should the mediator propose creative solutions?
January 20, 2023 By Brian Babcock There is no single simple answer to this FAQ. Mediation is rightly popular because in most disputes, the best result is one the parties agree to themselves. This applies especially to situations where the objective is about more than “who will pay how much?” But what happens if you […]
Do you need a digital forensic specialist?
August 18, 2022 By Brian Babcock The increasing prevalence of electronic communications brings with it a renewed focus on electronic discovery. Most parties and lawyers lack the expertise necessary to be confident that they will retrieve electronic documents completely in a form in which they are both unchanged and searchable. Even where the party may […]
Marriage, Separation, and Your Estate Plan
April 9, 2022 By Brian Babcock Are you married? About to be married? About to become separated or divorced? Already separated but not divorced? If you answer any of these questions “yes”, you need to be aware of changes to Ontario’s Succession Law Reform Act that came into effect on January 1st 2022. Prior to […]
Is That Marriage Valid?
January 15, 2022 By Margaret Waddington You might think that in the 21st century, we no longer need worry about whether a marriage is valid – it seems like that question should be limited to an inconvenient plot point about a couple waking up in Vegas… oh, sorry, that was an episode of The Big […]
COVID-19 Vaccines and Parental Decision-making
November 1, 2021 By Margaret Waddington & Jessica Bevilacqua As COVID-19 vaccines rollout across Canada for those aged 12 and up, and with vaccination for children under 12 on the horizon, disputes between parents about vaccinating their children continue to increase. If a parent has been granted decision-making responsibility (previously known as custody), they have […]