fola family law submissions

The HELP Toolkit: Identifying and Responding to Family Violence for Family Law Legal Advisers is now available on the Department of Justice Canada website.  

The toolkit provides practical guidance to help legal advisers identify and respond to family violence in their family law cases. 

The “HELP” approach is based on new and existing research on:

· Family violence in the family law context;

· The current practices and needs of legal advisers in relation to identifying and responding to family violence with family law clients; and

· The needs of family law clients who have experienced family violence.

The development of the HELP toolkit was supported by many people across the country, including experts in family law and family violence, legal advisers, frontline service providers, the Canadian Bar Association’s Family Law Section, and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. 

The Ontario Family Law Limited Scope Services Project’s website (funded by a grant from the Law Foundation of Ontario) has been designed to improve access to family justice for middle and lower income Ontarians by increasing the use of limited scope retainers, legal coaching and summary legal counsel in family law matters.

On the site, you can find resources for family lawyers and other useful Information.

PLUS:  the Project has waived the requirement that is a mandatory pre-requisite to joining the roster to require that lawyers watch the webinar in groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, you now have the ability to complete the mandatory training alone with a request that the viewer has a quick check-in with the project manager to facilitate registration and an opportunity to have questions answered.   

HERE'S A DIRECT LINK TO THE WEBINAR

Lawyers who have 3+ years of experience with a minimum of 30% in family law can register for free after doing the 2 hour webinar.

If you are looking for ways to increase member engagement during the pandemic (and to help promote participation in this important access to justice initiative), why not run a contest?  Challenge a neighbouring law association for a signup duel! FOLA would offer to be the neutral judge. 

If you are interested in competing against another association, just let Katie know at katie.robinette@fola.ca, and she will help get both associations some information (suggested tweets, images, newsletter blurb, etc) to get you started, and FOLA will announce and recognize the winner(s) on social media!

To see the roster of family lawyers who have already signed up for the project, click here.

MAG is pleased to share that Community Legal Education Ontario’s Guided Pathways to Family Court Forms tool continues to expand.

In addition to helping users complete the forms required to apply for a simple or joint divorce and file a separation agreement with the court, the tool now leads users through many forms required to apply for corollary relief, including custody, access, support, property division, and a restraining order (with or without a divorce claim). 

Family Claims Online and Guided Pathways are complementary online services that aim to strengthen the Ontario family justice system by making it more efficient and easier to use.

Instructions for setting up your ONe-key and Justice Services Online accounts.

In Ontario, you can apply to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for a divorce.

You can file online for a::

• joint divorce – you and your spouse apply for a divorce and any other court orders together because you both agree to a divorce and on all other family law matters (such as parenting, spousal support or division of property)
• simple divorce – you apply for a divorce on your own because you and your spouse can’t agree to a divorce and you’re not asking for any other court orders

Before you submit your online application, make sure you qualify and have all of the required documents.