News and Events
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News
FLA Annual General Meeting!
Join us for the AGM and a discussion on the COVID-19 changes to courts with our panel judges from the Ontario Court of Justice!
The panelists will be speaking at 6:00 PM followed by the AGM at 7:00 PM.
Register in advance at . You will be sent an invitation and Zoom link to join the meeting upon request.
Please consider joining the FLA’s Board of Directors! Submit the Nomination Forms and send us a short Bio:
Board Nomination Form
Officer Nomination Form
The deadline to submit your Nomination Forms is May 5th, 2021.
See the following poster for details:
15th Annual Family Law Summit
Once again, the FLA is offering a discounted rate for MEMBERS ONLY!
Don’t miss the opportunity to join our group and enjoy 50% off this event. Please see registration details in the flyer below.
Filing of Documents for 311 Jarvis and 47 Sheppard
Please see the following flowchart outlining the process for filing documents at the following courthouse:
Filing of Documents: 311 Jarvis and 47 Sheppard
Updated Practice Directions
Please see below copies of the following practice directions.
Notice to the Legal Profession: 311 Jarvis Street
Notice to the Legal Profession: 47 Sheppard Avenue
14th Annual Family Law Summit Webcast!
Please see the following information regarding the virtual rescheduling of the 14th Annual Family Law Summit. If you had already registered for the Family Law Summit with the FLA’s group discount back in early March, please disregard the below notice. More information will be circulated shortly in regard to the webcast program and pricing adjustments for previously registered members.
The 14th Annual Family Law Summit (originally set to occur on March 26th-27th, 2020 prior to the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions) has been rescheduled! The program will now take place via webcast only on Thursday, October 1st, 2020 from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
Although the LSO has reduced the original registration price of the event, once again, the FLA is offering an additional group discount rate for MEMBERS ONLY!
To enjoy a 50% off discount with the FLA Group, please send us your:
– First and last name
– Email address
– LSUC number
– Payment of $183.63 (includes taxes)
Payments methods include:
e-Transfer to (use password FLAO)
OR
Send cheque to
Family Lawyers Association
c/o Mary Reilly
2324 Danforth Ave.
Toronto, Ontario, M4C 1K7
The deadline for FLA group registration and payment is Thursday, September 10th, 2020.
Program Description
How is your family law practice faring in these new times? Every family law practitioner is adjusting to the “new normal” and our presenters can help you find a path forward. You have clients who are experiencing stressful times themselves which is reflected in the issues they present to you: managing high conflict personalities, dealing with spousal support and property disputes and a myriad of other issues, both expected and unexpected. The 14th Family Law Summit helps you cope. We offer an opportunity to hear about a diverse range of topics that have been curated to meet the needs of family law practitioners today.
• Hear about reforms to the parenting provisions of the Divorce Act
• Learn practical approaches to better communicate with your clients in a virtual environment
• Be aware of the advantages and drawbacks of technology within family law practice
CPD Hours include:
4 hrs 30 mins Substantive
1 hr 50 mins Professionalism
10 min EDI Professionalism
For more information on the webcast event, please visit: https://store.lso.ca/14th-family-law-summit?utm_campaign=Fall20-E1-FA1001&utm_medium=email&utm_source=envoke.
COVID-19 Pandemic – Accessing Family Law Services
Please see the following links and resources regarding Family Law Services that are currently available in light of the COVID-19 pandemic:
COVID-19 Pandemic – Accessing Family Law Services
LSO Emergency Family Law Referral Phone Line
The Law Society of Ontario with support from the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice has launched an emergency family law referral phone line to assist people who are self-represented & trying to determine whether or not their family court matter meets the criteria to be heard by the Court on an “urgent” basis.
The emergency service will connect SRLs with family lawyers, working on a pro bono basis, who will provide 30 minutes of legal advice specific to determining whether or not their family court matter is urgent and referrals to other available legal services.
To access this service, which will be staffed during business hours, SRLs may contact the Law Society by phone at 1-800-268-7568 or 416-947-3310.
Callers get the option for French or English when they call the number. They can select French if they need services in French and may request a referral to a French-speaking Lawyer.
If you are interested in participating in this important initiative, please contact the OBA at .
6 MONTH FREE TRIAL FOR NEW MEMBERS JOINING THE FLA!
The Family Lawyers Association is now offering a 6 MONTH FREE TRIAL for any new members wishing to join the FLA. This discount is being offered only to first time subscribers. This free trial provides new members with the opportunity to experience all of the benefits of becoming a an FLA Member, free of charge! Once the trial has expired, members can decide whether they want to continue to participate in our association and can chose one of our other membership options, lasting one full year.
Please click here to join for free!
Notice Regarding Family Court Matters at 47 Sheppard and in the OCJ
Please see the following notices regarding Family Court Matters at 47 Sheppard and in the Ontario Court of Justice.
NOTICE TO BAR REGARDING FAMILY MATTERS AT 47 SHEPPARD as of March 18th, 2020
NOTICE TO PUBLIC REGARDING FAMILY COURT MATTERS IN THE ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
Advisory Notice Regarding COVID-19 Courtroom Procedures
Please see the following links regarding COVID-19 and courtroom procedures from the Ontario Court of Justice and the Superior Court of Justice:
https://www.ontariocourts.ca/en/covid.htm
https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/covid-19/
14th Annual Family Law Summit
Once again, the FLA is offering a group discount rate for members only!
Don’t miss out and join our group to enjoy the discounted rate.
The deadline to register with our group is March 16th, 2020.
Please click here to view the poster with details and instructions on how to register with the FLA group!
FLA Annual General Meeting!
Save the date and please join us for the FLA’s Annual General Meeting!
This year, our Annual General Meeting is taking place at 6:00 PM on November 27th, 2019at the Arts and Letters Club, located at 14 Elm Street, Toronto, Ontario.
Please join us to learn about what your association has been involved in over the past year and our plans for the future!
The Election of the Board of Directors will take place at the AGM. Please consider becoming a member of the Board! If you are interested in running for election, please fill out the Nomination Form below, include a short bio, and send to by November 17th, 2019.
2019-2020 Board Nomination Form
2019-2020 Officer Nomination Form
If you would like more information, please get in touch!
Please click here to view the flyer.
Survey Regarding LAO Cuts
The FLA is continuing to advocate on behalf of our members with respect to the recent cuts to LAO in family law, as with the other work we do, we want to reflect the views of our membership as accurately as possible.
Please find below a link to our short survey on this issue:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SRRDZY7
The deadline to participate and complete the survey is September 30, 2019.
It is very important that each one of us take the time to complete the ten-minute survey. The legitimacy of our survey results depends on a high participation rate. Given the urgency of this issue, we ask that you complete the survey as soon as possible. Please feel free to share the survey with other family law lawyers.
Family Lawyers Association’s 25th Anniversary Gala!
Please join us for the
FAMILY LAWYERS ASSOCIATION’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY GALA!
The evening includes dinner, drinks, entertainment, and plenty of amazing surprises!
We are please to have the Honourable George Czutrin, Senior Judge of the Family Court, Superior Court of Justice, as our Keynote Speaker.
When: Thursday October 24, 2019 from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Where: Midtown Event Theatre (2492 Yonge Street)
Ticket Price: $100.00
Please click here to see the poster!
Get your tickets at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/family-lawyers-associations-25th-gala-tickets-68631443495.
The deadline to purchase tickets for the FLA’s 25th Anniversary Gala is October 21st, 2019. Get your tickets while you still can!
We are also offering a vegetarian meal option for those who are interested. If you would like to request the vegetarian meal option, please send us an email at before October 10th, 2019.
Tickets for the 25th Gala are also available for purchase by contacting Elizabeth Pacheco at or Diana Vasilescu at .
Unlike many of our past events, tickets for the event cannot be purchased in at the door. Please be sure to get your tickets in advance!
Family Lawyers Association Statement Regarding Cuts to Legal Aid Ontario
The Family Lawyers Association is deeply concerned with the Ontario Government’s plan to cut funding to Legal Aid Ontario by over 30 per cent.
The FLA was founded 25 years ago in response to the legal aid funding crisis of the mid-1990s. Accordingly, the focus of the FLA has always been to work towards improving Legal Aid Ontario and protecting the rights of the most vulnerable low-income Ontarians. The FLA believes that all individuals involved in our family justice system should have easy access together with competent legal representation when dealing with the important issues affecting themselves and their families. Without adequate funding for LAO, the most vulnerable unrepresented litigants will be left to navigate the legal system on their own. The FLA is also gravely concerned with the Ontario Government’s position to no longer fund refugee and immigration law services.
We urge the Attorney General to reconsider and redress the substantial cuts to LAO’s funding.
Please see full statement and contact here.
March 18-19: 13th Annual Family Law Summit
The 13th Annual Family Law Summit is taking place on March 18th-19th, 2019.
This year, the FLA is offering a group registration discount for Members only!
Please click here for information regarding group registration and details about the Summit.
FLA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Annual General Meeting is taking place on January 17, 2019, at 6:00 p.m., at the Center for Social Innovation in the Atrium room, for more information on the location please click here.
Centre for Social Innovation
192 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M5T-2C2
Election to the Board of Directors for the Family Lawyers Association:
Election to the board takes place at our Annual General Meeting. Please consider becoming a member of our Board of Directors. If you are interested in running for election, please fill out a Nomination Form and provide a short bio and return them to me by January 7, 2019. If you’d like more information, please get in touch with me or any one of our existing Board Members.
Please find the Nomination Form here.
FLA FALL SOCIAL!
You are invited to the Family Lawyers Association Annual Social, the October Sizzle!
Enjoy Bill Rodgers and his excellent band “Soul Custody”, food, drink, dancing, and good company!
When: October 11, 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Where: JOEY Eaton Centre
Ticket Price: $50.00 early online purchase through the link below ($60.00 at door)
Tickets include two drinks courtesy of the Advocates’ Society, as well as amazing appetizers, decadent desserts, and yes, live music!
Lawyers, judges, friends, support staff, spouses, partners, and others, significant or not, are welcome to join the fun!
Tickets sold out last year so make sure you get yours early!
Click HERE to purchase tickets!
For more information please contact:
Haley Gaber-Katz:
Elizabeth Pacheco:
NOTICE TO THE PROFESSION
NOTICE TO THE PROFESSION
AMENDMENTS TO FAMILY LAW RULES (O. Reg. 114/99) EFFECTIVE April 23rd, 30th and July 1st, 2018.
Please see the Family Law Rules, O. Reg. 114/99 and http://ontariocourtforms.on.ca/en/family-law-rules-forms/ for details.
03 May, 2018: FLA PING PONG CHALLENGE!
Winter weather got you down? Just finished a difficult trial? Why not invite opposing counsel to a (mostly) friendly game of ping pong, courtesy of the Family Lawyers Association?
Join us for a fun evening of networking, drinks, and ping-pong!
When: May 3rd, 2018 from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Where: SPiN Toronto, 461 King Street West
FLA Members FREE
Non-Members – $15.00
One drink ticket included!
Please RSVP and purchase tickets by following the Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/fla-ping-pong-challenge-tickets-45357697093
28 November: FLA Annual General Meeting!
Please join us at the 2017 Annual General Meeting of the FLA.
Where: Arts and Letters Club (14 Elm Street, Toronto, ON M5G 1G7)
When: 28 November 2017 at 6:00 PM
This event is featuring a talk by Dr. Victoria Talwar, Associate Professor at McGill University, on “Assessing the Credibility and Competency of Child Witnesses”.
Understand the capacities of children (including intellectual and language) and being sensitive to these when working with children. Explore issues related to interviewing children, and the impact of different questions, from both developmental psychology theoretical perspectives and practical applications in terms of best practice methods of interviewing children.
Please note that this event is open to FLA members only. To join or renew, visit: https://flao.org/join-renew/
Click here to download the flyer!
Please download and submit all nominations, including a short bio, to Katharina Janczaruk at by Friday, 24 November:
Officer of the Board Nomination Form
12 October 2017: The FLAO’s October Sizzle!
Come join the Family Lawyers Association for our annual social, the October Sizzle!
Tickets are $50.00 early bird, $60.00 at the door, and include one drink, appetizers and desserts – music and dancing also included.
Judges, friends, support stuff, spouses, partners and others, significant or not, are welcome to join the fun!
Email FLA Board members Anne Calpin at , or Gary Gottlieb at , for more information. Tickets can also be purchased online. Click here to download the flyer!
FLA Response to the Family Law Review (Full Report)
Please find attached our board’s response to the Family Law Review, with schedules (Schedule A Part 1, Schedule A Part 2, Schedule B).
Please also see the flyer for the upcoming Town Hall Meeting.
FLA Statement on Family Law Review
Click here to access the FLA’s statement on the recent Family Law Review.
The Family Lawyers Association will be commenting more fully on the recommendations in this report at a later date.
MAG UPDATE: Report on Representation in Family Court by Non-Lawyers
I attach for your review the press release along with the link to the full report from the Family Law Services Review.
The recommendations of the report go well beyond what anyone from the bar (including our “sister” organizations such as the Federation of Law Associations, the Advocates Society and the OBA) supported or even imagined. The recommendations are for non-lawyers (paralegals) to represent family law clients in a wide range of matters, inside and outside the court, without supervision and with very little training.
The LSUC has invited comments from the bar on the report. The FLA will be making submissions on the report as we feel very strongly that the recommendations of the report do not advance access to justice.
This has significant implications for all of us – we really want to hear your reactions and comments.
Katharina Janczaruk, Chair
Family Lawyers Association
FLA NEWS: 15 February 2017
NEWS FROM THE CHAIR
Katharina Janczaruk
FLA AGM
The FLA AGM was held on November 17, 2017. The following were elected to the board: Anne Calpin, Haley Gaber-Katz, Rosemary Gallo, Gary Gottlieb, Jean Hyndman, Katharina Janczaruk, Mary Reilly, Victoria Boger Mull, Rosemary Masemann, Deborah Stewart, Julia Vera and Zeenath Zeath. The new board met formally for the first time on December 19, 2016. At the meeting, the executive was formed. Your 2016/2017 executive are: Katharina Janczaruk (Chair), Julia Vera (Co-chair), Mary Reilly (Treasurer) and Rosemary Masemann (Secretary)
Legal Aid
December was a very busy month for the FLA and especially for the legal aid committee. Katharina Janczaruk, Julia Vera and Jean Hyndman met with the board of LAO on December 9, 2016 and presented our concerns about the family law legal aid tariff. On December 12, 2016, Katharina Janczaruk and Julia Vera met with the Law Society’s legal aid working group to voice our concerns about legal aid. Attached is the executive summary, prepared by Jean Hyndman, of our work done over the last while on legal aid. The FLA has been active, meeting with representatives of other organizations and various representatives of legal aid Ontario following the announcement late December of cuts to LAO.
LAO invited submissions on proposed changes to LAO’s transparency rules (public disclosure of the money spent, including what lawyers get). Jean Hyndman drafted the attached submissions.
Family Law Rules Committee consultations on proposed changes to the cost grid – The FLA did not support the proposed changes, feeling that a cost grid would be of limited benefit to the majority of litigants, primarily in the OCJ. Please see the attached submissions on costs grid, drafted by Jean Hyndman.
UFC – Last fall on the Opening of the Courts, the FLA reported that the province seeks to expand UFC province wide. This is an objective that many in the family law bar, including the FLA, have supported for years. Last fall, we invited our membership to comment and early this year we were asked by the SCJ to put our support in writing. Mary Reilly drafted the attached letter of support.
Budget Consultations – The Family Lawyers Association provided submissions to the Ontario government on the 2017 Pre-Budget Consultations. The same as in other years: improvements to legal aid, court resources and social benefits. Please see the attached budget submissions drafted by Zeenath Zeath.
Please also see the attached 311 Jarvis and North York bench and bar reports.
AND HERE’S WHAT WE ARE LOOKING OUT FOR:
LAO Cuts – The FLA board will be meeting with David Field (CEO LAO) and David McKillop (VP, Policy LAO) later this month. If you have any comments or concerns you would like us to pass along, please email the Chair or Chair LAO Sub-Committee .
Later this month, the FLA will also be meeting again with the LSUC working group on legal aid. The Advocates’ Society is facilitating a meeting with lawyers who do legal aid work in order to gather feedback on experiences with the legal aid system in Ontario.
Last year the FLA sent submissions on the Justice Bonkalo Review of representation in family court by non-lawyers and participated in various meetings, including a consultation with Justice Bonkalo on the issue. The report was due late December but has been delayed. The report is due any day now – we will be looking to it and will no doubt have something to say about it.
The Motherisk story continues. The Motherisk Commission will be meeting with key legal child protection, government and community partners, including the FLA, to objet their input. The objective, as set out in the Commission’s letter to the FLA, is to “share perspective, develop mutual understanding and inform how we move forward.”
The Ontario government is considering amending the Family Law Act to harmonize the definition of “child” for support purposes with the definition in the federal Divorce Act. The amendment would expand eligibility for child support for adult children who are unable to support themselves “due to illness, disability or other cause” similar to the Divorce Act. The FLA has been asked to provide its comments.
We have also been asked by MPP Monique Taylor, the Ontario NDP critic for Children and Youth Services for our comments on Bill 89 Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act
The FLA is working on some educational or social events. More about this later.
FLAO 2016 Final Submissions
Follow the links below to download the FLA’s final submission for 2016 thus far:
Input on Compliance-Based Entity Regulation Taskforce’s paper on “Promoting better legal practices”
Legal Aid Budget Submissions 2016
Final Submissions on Paralegal Practice Expansion into Family Law
Feedback Regarding OCL Portal and File Assignment
Response to Proposed Fee Implementation (16-MAG004)
Representation of Children Under the Family Law Rules
FLA Submissions on the Motherisk Independent Review
Click here to download a copy of the FLA’s Submissions on the Motherisk Hair Analysis Independent Review.
Click here to download a copy of the FLA’s Supplementary Submissions on the Motherisk Hair Analysis Independent Review.
FLA Discussion Paper Re: Domestic Tariff Reform, July 29, 2015
Click here to read the Family Lawyers Association’s Discussion Paper re Domestic Tariff Reform.
Click here to review the Proposed Family Law Tariff 2015 – Domestic.
Legal Aid Domestic Tariff
As part of our on-going efforts to improve and reform legal aid, we are asking our membership to participate in a survey on the current domestic tariff. The results of the survey will be used in our lobbying efforts with LAO and with the AG to increase the hours allowed under the domestic tariff. We would be grateful if you answered the survey by August 7, 2015!
We know how busy everyone is these days – we are very grateful for your support and your participation.
The link is:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/L7QT7TK.
FLA Motherisk Submissions
Click here to review the Motherisk Submissions made by the FLA.