education courses on family law and procedural law

[DanTess]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knew where there might be a college or university (in Ontario!) that offers distance learning for family law and procedural law (as it would apply to going through the courts for family law issues). I searched google and a few universities but found none so far.

I'd like to start familiarizing myself with the law to limit my need for a lawyer (can't afford it!).

Thanks,

Dan

[dadtotheend]

Check with the Law Society of Upper Canada.

[Mess]

There are no online courses through colleges in Ontario that cover family law, I've actually been looking extensively.

You can get night courses at community colleges for Legal Assisstant, Paralegal and Law Clerk. The basic course is Introducton to Legal System which covers the difference between different courts and the structure of the system at a nuts and bolts level. It's a prereq for Paralegal diploma course.

I'd suggest you pick up Canadian Family Law by Michael Kronby at Chapters. It is very dry, and while it refers to a lot of case law, it doesn't cite the cases, so it's not a perfect reference for self-rep. However you can use it as a base to start searching Canlii for the cases it refers to. For example take a line in quotes from a decision, search Canlii and the case shoudl come up.

Spend a few hours a night browsing cases on Canlii and look at judge's decisions, what they based their decision on, what arguments and evidence was relevent and what wasn't. This will give you a good idea about how to structure your case.

Then you need to understand the nuts and bolts of working through the forms, what to include, when it is due, etc. The Introduction to Legal System would be a good course if you can get to a night class at a local college. It may have a different name at your local college. You should also read thoroughly the Family Law Act, and especially the Family Law Rules. The Rules will cover a lot about what forms to file and how many days you have to respond etc. This is still not simple to figure out and you will end up with as many questions as you started with. Make a list of questions and go to a courthouse and ask for the Duty Counsel who is a Legal Aid lawyer on premises to assist with filing of forms (will not give legal advice on your case, just info on forms.)

You can probably find an online program for Legal Assisstant but that won't cover the specifics of Family Law that you need, it will just be general about typing up clauses in legal language. There are specific formats that have to be followed for a contract for example. This isn't that helpful for you, but one or two courses may help your understanding of terminology. For specific Family Law information, you won't get that online. You need Paralegal or Law Clerk training, at minimum (I assume you don't want to study for your Juris Doctor) and you can't do that by correspondence.

The Ontario Association of Law Clerks (this is like the Law Society of Upper Canada, only for Law Clerkss) has courses specific to different areas of law incuding Family Law, but they are intended for juniour Law Clerks with a diploma and three years minimum working in a law office, these are post-grad courses to become Associates (moving up to Senior Law Clerk). The Law Clerk course for Family Law would be one semester and you could take it at night school. You wouldn't have the prereqs but I suppose you could talk to the college admin and try to get permission to audit the class.

[DanTess]

thanks for the great info!

dan

[HammerDad]

The Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario sometimes has courses relating to family law:

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