Family Court needs a serious overhaul of how it operates. Full day wasted
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I thought family law is in superior court of justice? Or is it different cities have it separate?
Unified Family Court
In municipalities that have a unified family court (Hamilton, York Region, Durham Region, London, Waterloo), all family matters are heard at the Superior Court of Justice, Family Court Branch.
Non-Unified
In municipalities that have an Ontario Court of Justice and a Superior Court of Justice (Toronto, Halton, Peel), the jurisdiction is divided and sometimes overlaps.
Divorce, Property Issues, Equitable Claims must be Superior Court, Ontario Court of Justice cannot hear them.
If filing a Domestic Contract for enforcement or change, Adoption, or CAS proceedings, these must be heard in the Ontario Court of Justice. (It seem this is where victor's lawyer made an error)
Both courts have jurisdiction over Custody, Access, Child Support and Spousal Support, but the choice of filing usually depends on married vs common law (but not always).
Motions to Change depends on the level of the existing Order. The Ontario Court of Justice cannot change a Superior Court of Justice Order.
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Thanks Kinso. So the order issued will prevail toOCJ correct. Lawyer just informed me they are trying to get a date at the OCJ immediately. I’m just glad the judge was awesome and did not award costs to OC which they were trying to get. Think my lawyer knows it was a big mistake and they are being super nice which gives it away. Don’t know what they’re game plan is now but I’ll know on Wednesday. We can’t afford two different matters in separate courts.
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Question: during the CC the judge set dates for motions and scheduled a trial settlement date for jan 15. The only thing that can be argued in this court is spousal support. Since child support and access has to go to OCJ it will be separate. My lawyer wants to combine them. At this point since I have dates scheduled and this should be done by January 15 for spousal support should I just wait till that matter is done and then start a new matter on child support in the ocj. Whatever happens with spousal support will just be evidence for the next case. I don’t want to give up the matter in SJC because dates are set and agreed to by both parties. Judge wants to move it along.thoughts?
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I would still have your child support matter filed immediately. When you get disclosure you can then use it to make a reasonable offer before the conference. That way you aren’t waiting another year to get in front of a judge for the conference process. Perhaps if your ex is smart they will accept an offer rather than paying legal bills for two concurrent cases.
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Rockscan- i agree, spoke to a few people and they said to go with 2 matters, if spousal support on an imputed income can be achieved at the superior level then just use that for child support after, our lawyer says it's a procedural matter, i've never seen my lawyer so nice to us all of a sudden, after 3 years we become a priority all of a sudden, sad that we don't trust our own lawyer,
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Update: had a meeting with the law firm lawyer and our new lawyer on the file. They admitted and apologized for many mistakes made Over the 3 year period. They are offering to proceed with 2 matters now for free for the next few months till we see results. Next month should be interesting as there was an 8 page financial disclosure order that the judge gave to my ex. Thanks for the feedback earlier about going with 2 matters.
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Make sure you don’t send them unnecessary correspondence or allow them to do that. Agree to their “free service” as long as it applies to them drafting and submitting the materials and responding to anything coming in.
Offering you a few free “months” means nothing if that is simply them sending hours of correspondence and inflating hours for the file. If you are able to do it, outline that the free time they are to be giving you is to prepare the motion, file it, appear at the first appearance, complete and file the case conference brief and provide at least three hours for that conference. They messed this up so they should get you through to the first conference before beginning to bill you. If they had done it right then it would be at the first conference date by now.
As for you, there is no need to send them emails asking for the status or if they have heard from your ex. If you don’t hear anything by the deadline THEN follow up but don’t waste your free ticket asking for info.
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Originally posted by Victorviola View PostThey admitted and apologized for many mistakes made Over the 3 year period. They are offering to proceed with 2 matters now for free for the next few months till we see results.
If they wish to make it up to you, they should represent you at a Motion for free, including the written and in-appearance aspects of it. I still cannot believe its been 3 years and your case has not advanced. Even court staff should chime in every few months to ask where things stand, as they have interest in getting files off their docket list.
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Update: so due date has passed or complying with disclosure order has passed, no disclosure provided by the ex except for an affidavit that states he makes 200k now, in 2018 he claimed he made 30k, it was a big order to comply with, can't believe he showed nothing, don't understand why he would claim he makes 200k all of a sudden either. Motion time,
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Fired my lawyer. Spent 35k to date and just found out that my motion to change for child support and access was rejected by the OCJ. My ex lawyer offered me 11k back but I didn’t take it and told him I am reporting him to the law society. 2 days later he gives me a final bill for 2k. What a slap in the face. I started this matter 3 years ago seeking CS mainly but it was filed in superior court and should have been filed in ocj. Spousal support was added later on consent and will be heard in superior court. My ex lawyer re filed CSupoort in ocj but filed it improperly so it got rejected. 3 years. Heartbreaking.
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I’d also take the 11k. If you’re hoping to get more than that the avenue is an assessment, not a complaint to the law society.
1) you can still complain to the law society.
2) the law society is not empowered to order the lawyer pay you anything. Only a fee assessment at the Superior Court of Justice can do that.
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