FAMILY LAW - EXPANDING LEGAL SERVICE OPTIONS FOR FAMILIES

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Since the Family Law Action Plan was approved in December 2017, the Law Society has carried out a significant amount of work in the development of a licensing framework that will permit paralegals and others to assist the public with certain family legal services. The Family Law Working Group—a bencher group established by Convocation—is responsible for overseeing the development of the licence.

The first step in building the licensing framework is the determination of the scope of permissible activities. Consultation has been key to the development of that scope, which is ongoing.

UPDATE - Family Claims Online Service

On February 25, 2019, the Family Claims Online service (www.Ontario.ca/familyclaims) will expand to enable Ontarians to initiate simple divorce applications online at any time. The existing joint divorce online filing process is also being enhanced to permit property claims on consent. 

The service will continue to allow users to pay court fees online securely by credit or debit card and enable users to create profiles in order to save filings in progress and view the history of their filings.

This expansion follows the successful province-wide launch of the service in November 2018. 

Guided Pathways to Family Court Forms

The ministry is also 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). To learn more, visit https://www.cleo.on.ca/en/projects/guided-pathways-family-court-forms.

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.

Ontario's Law Society is implementing the Family Law Action Plan to improve access to justice for Ontario families.   

BACKGROUND

In 2016, Ontario's Attorney General and the Law Society of Ontario Canada have asked Justice Annemarie Bonkalo to undertake a consultation to "Expand Legal Service Options for Families". Included in this consultation is a proposal to allow paralegals and other legal service providers, such as law students or law clerks, to deal with certain family matters.  

The Ministry consultation page can be accessed at this link.  The specific questions being asked by Justice Bonkalo were:

1. What legal services are sought and provided in each type of family law case (e.g. divorce, custody and access), from beginning to end?
2. What family legal services are currently provided by a person other than a lawyer (e.g. paralegals, law students, law clerks), whether independently or under the supervision of a lawyer?
3. What family legal services are covered by legal aid? What family legal services are provided by duty counsel?
4. Which legal service offerings (e.g. conducting legal research, preparing correspondence, appearing in court, etc.) could improve the family justice system if they were more widely available?
5. If an appropriate framework is put in place, should persons other than lawyers, such as paralegals, be permitted to provide legal services in certain family law matters?
6. If yes: a) which types of legal services (e.g. interviewing a client, preparing certain documents)?; b) in which types of family law matters (e.g. divorce, custody and access)?; c) with what safeguards (e.g. education, training, insurance, regulation and/or oversight)
7. Should other people as well as lawyers provide legal aid services? What role could  these people play?
8. Do you think there are certain types of family law cases or issues that would not be  suitable for persons other than lawyers to provide

Justice Bonkalo's report was released to the public in February of 2017.

Upon receipt of the "Bonkalo Report", the Law Society undertook a consultation to solicit the views of stakeholders on the 21 recommendations made in the report. 

Our responses can be found in the reports provided by our Family Law Committee and Paralegal Committee linked below.

If anyone wishes to comment further, please do not hesitate to contact Katie Robinette at Katie.Robinette@fola.ca