Family law problems – More legal information
Paths to Justice: Family Law Resource Guide
We’ve put together a comprehensive guide for family law. Consult this guide for where to find legal advice, legal information, help with forms, help from a mediator, child and spousal support calculators, and more.
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Hastings, Prince Edward and Lennox & Addington Family Law Resource Guide |
We also have created a tip sheet for obtaining restraining orders or peace bonds.
Other websites
Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) – including Steps to Justice
- Steps to Justice Family Law Guided Pathways – a series of online materials to help you fill out court forms needed for the multiple steps of family law matters
- Short videos on family law issues
- CLEO’s family law page has pamphlets, including “An Introduction to Family Law in Ontario“
- Interactive illustrations of family court rooms in the Ontario Court of Justice and the Superior Court of Justice
- Safety Plan – helps people in abusive relationships create a safety plan
Children’s Aid matters
Legal Aid’s fact sheet on Children’s Aid, “Has children’s aid contacted you?” offers information on what to do if you have been contacted by Children’s Aid and whether you qualify for help from a lawyer paid by Legal Aid.
CLEO has a fact sheet for parents as well, in multiple languages.
Family Responsibility Office
The Family Responsibility Office (FRO) has information about FRO, as well as forms and links. The FRO is the government agency that enforces child and spousal support payments.
Family Law Education for Women (FLEW)
Family Law Education for Women provides plain language legal information on women’s rights under Ontario family law, available in 14 languages (including American Sign Language).
Luke’s Place – Family court and beyond
Family Court and Beyond is a site offering family law and family court information as well as safety planning tools for women. Resources include their family court survival workbook. It is run by Luke’s Place which helps women proceed through the family law process after leaving an abusive relationship.
METRAC
The Transformed Project: Addressing partner violence from Two-Spirit, Nonbinary and Trans Perspectives. This is a bilingual, community-based research and action initiative led by METRAC: Action on Violence in partnership with the Centre Francophone.
Ministry of Attorney General (MAG)
MAG’s family justice page provides links to information about:
- arranging child support
- Family Law Information Centres (FLIC)
- family law guides
- family law rules and forms
- family arbitration
- online publications such as:
Adoption, and children with special needs
The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services offers information and resources on indigenous children and youth, adoption, children with special needs, and Children’s Aid.
Are you representing yourself without the help of a lawyer?
The National self-represented litigants project (NSRLP) publishes resources for people representing themselves in court, as well as research reports.
See their resource page, which includes publications such as:
Government of Canada – HELP Toolkit for Family Law Legal Advisors
HELP Toolkit – Identifying and Responding to Family Violence for Family Law Legal Advisers. New evidence-based toolkit to help family law legal advisers identify and respond to family violence. The HELP toolkit includes practical information on how to ask about family violence in a way that is safe for the client. The first of its kind in Canada, the HELP toolkit aims to improve how the family justice system responds to family violence
Canadian Bar Association (CBA)
This 13-page Tax Matters Toolkit: Separation and Divorce from the Canadian Bar Association, updated in May 2022, can help family law clients understand how tax rules might affect their future finances in the event of separation or divorce.
The CBA also offers several “Legal Health Checks” including one on relationships, separation and divorce.