Family
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January 23, 2025
SCC judge’s 13-year track record shows concern for fairness, privacy rights & access to justice
Supreme Court of Canada Justice Andromache Karakatsanis rarely attracts headlines, but her low public profile belies her impact on the legal landscape over the past 13 years in judgments that enforced the Charter rights of Canadians and pushed to expand access to justice, court watchers say.
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January 24, 2025
Exclusive: SCC’s Karakatsanis J. says job is ‘so extraordinary, it’s hard to think about doing anything else’
Supreme Court of Canada Justice Andromache Karakatsanis has seen many changes at the court since she was appointed in 2011 but its recent historic transformation into a fully bilingual female-majority court is “fantastic,” she says.
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January 23, 2025
Understanding the latest amendments to Ontario’s Family Law Act: More key changes for 2024
In 2024, significant updates to Ontario’s Family Law Act were introduced through c. 28, Schedule 9, ss. 1-3, which bring notable changes to specific areas of family law. These amendments aim to simplify legal processes, enhance the enforceability of arbitration awards, and provide greater clarity in legal language. Understanding these changes is crucial not only for legal professionals but also for families navigating Ontario’s legal system.
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January 23, 2025
Judges demand brevity | Steve Benmor
Lawyers are, by nature, wordsmiths. Trained to persuade, analyze and dissect complex legal issues, they often take pride in their writing skills, crafting meticulous court documents that leave no stone unturned. Many excel at producing compelling affidavits, making them some of the most effective writers in any profession.
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January 22, 2025
Federal Court of Appeal: RRSP transfer to widow exempt from tax debt clawback
The transfer of an RRSP from a deceased husband to his widow is not subject to a provision of the Income Tax Act allowing the Crown to collect unpaid tax debts from spouses or common-law partners, the Federal Court of Appeal has held.
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January 22, 2025
Domestic violence in Ontario: End of the beginning part two | Michael Cochrane
In the previous four columns I have tried to look at the scourge of domestic violence from some unusual angles, considered it an economic problem for families and society, scrutinized some ill-conceived proposed solutions and pondered ways in which we might prevent it from infecting relationships to begin with.
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January 22, 2025
Traditional values v. contemporary justice: Court varies gender-biased will that favoured son
In 2021, Ginny Lam discovered that her mother’s will significantly favoured her older brother, William Law. Yat Hei Law bequeathed $2.9 million to William and left Lam only $170,000. Lam felt that Yat Hei’s preferential treatment of William in her will was profoundly unjust. Lam successfully applied to the B.C. Supreme Court to have her mother’s will varied.
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January 21, 2025
Importance of tempering AI with human perspective | Courtney Mulqueen
While artificial intelligence (AI) has proven its worth in streamlining the disability insurance claim process, its use must be tempered with the human perspective.
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January 21, 2025
Understanding the latest amendments to Ontario’s Family Law Act: Key changes for 2024
In 2024, significant updates were introduced to the Family Law Act through c. 28, Schedule 9, ss. 1-3, which bring notable changes to specific areas of family law. These amendments aim to simplify legal processes, enhance the enforceability of arbitration awards, and provide greater clarity in legal language. Understanding these changes is crucial not only for legal professionals but also for families navigating Ontario’s legal system.
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January 20, 2025
Saskatchewan regulator lists upcoming events on estates, AI, family law
The Law Society of Saskatchewan has published a roundup of upcoming events — one being mediation training sessions for lawyers and another being the Canadian Bar Association Saskatchewan’s mid-winter conference.