Family
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July 28, 2025
How your kids can access the ‘Bank of Mom and Dad’ to buy a home
Even though the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and elsewhere is currently undergoing a downturn due to economic uncertainty, homeownership likely remains out of reach for many. For young Canadians, a home purchase is often supported (at least partially) by the “Bank of Mom and Dad.”
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July 25, 2025
Is generative AI a threat to the integrity of the justice system?
The use of generative artificial intelligence in the legal profession is continuing to grow. Although its application may have value in some areas of practice, its use in litigation has raised significant ethical questions because of the tendency for AI platforms to hallucinate cases. In circumstances where a court relies on fake cases to influence a decision, the integrity of the administration of justice and the legal profession can be irreparably tarnished.
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July 24, 2025
Alberta expands family justice strategy to more municipalities
The Alberta government is expanding its family justice strategy — which aims to give Albertans a more streamlined and consistent process to access family justice services — to more municipalities in the province.
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July 24, 2025
Divorce, second time around — it can hit your clients twice as hard
Everyone knows that marriages don’t always last. But it’s not just first marriages that struggle to survive — many second and third marriages end in divorce as well. According to Statistics Canada’s most recent General Social Survey (2017), more than one-quarter of Canadians aged 35-64 were on their second or subsequent marriage — but only about half of those couples were still together a decade later.
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July 23, 2025
The Friendly Bar Series, No. 6: The weight we carry — On intimacy, identity and family law practice
Since launching this series, many lawyers have reached out, some in DMs, others at conferences or after court, to share the quiet burdens they carry. The words of one lawyer, a senior member of the Friendly Family Bar who wished to remain anonymous, landed squarely in the centre of my chest. They shared the following reflections:
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July 23, 2025
Harper Grey welcomes Jimmy Peterson
Harper Grey has added a new associate, Jimmy Peterson, to its health and insurance law groups.
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July 23, 2025
Nunavut Indigenous still hampered by ‘Eurocentric’ family law: lawyer
Indigenous people caught in Nunavut’s family law system continue to face child welfare challenges due to a conflict between their need for community-based solutions and the justice system’s “westernized” notions of what constitutes family. So says Ontario lawyer Andrea Clarke, who recently hosted an online lecture for the Law Society of Nunavut.
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July 22, 2025
Federal Court affirms Ottawa can temporarily bar sex offenders from sponsoring immigrants
The Federal Court has affirmed that Ottawa acted within its scope of authority, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), when it issued a temporary regulatory ban on immigration sponsorship applications from Canadians or permanent residents convicted of sex crimes.
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July 22, 2025
Ontario court clarifies parental consent rules under child abduction convention
Ontario’s top court has clarified what it means for a parent to “consent” or “acquiesce” to a child’s retention in a foreign country under an international convention on child abduction that has been incorporated into provincial family law.
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July 22, 2025
Finality over fairness: A cautionary tale in will drafting, limitation periods
The Ontario Superior Court’s decision in Tessaro v. Gora, 2025 ONSC 198 quietly answered a long-standing question among estate planners: what happens when a decades-old drafting error is unexpectedly discovered? In answering this question, Justice Fred Myers not only clarified the legal consequences of such an error but also reiterated the importance of diligent drafting in estate planning.