Strathcona Law Group
132 Heritage Court 150 Chippewa Road T8A 6A2 Sherwood Park, AB, Canada

Appearing in Court in a pandemic is a bit different than normal, but today we conducted our first video conference hearing with the Court of Appeal. Whether it’s mediation, settlement conferences, client meetings or court appearances, we are ready to assist you with any and all of your legal needs in an appropriately socially-distanced fashion!

Should you and your partner have a written agreement about your property? The short answer is, it’s a good idea, whether you are married or not, and now is a great time to have these discussions with your partner, especially if you are both spending more time at home. These agreements, sometimes referred to as Cohabitation Agreements or Prenuptial Agreements are mainly intended to set out how your property and debts would be divided in the unfortunate event that you separ...Continue reading

Facing family breakdown in an era of social distancing? We offer mediation and collaborative family law services via video conference. Ask about our reduced hourly rates for mediation services.

Update on COVID-19 Shared Parenting: Judicial Perspectives You may have read our previous post discussing some of the challenges faced by divorced or separated parents attempting to maintain their shared parenting schedules, which you can access here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1537377086414568&id=103586613126963. This post will provide an update on decisions we are seeing out of the courts in Ontario. In general, the Ontario Courts have recently confir...med that parents are to maintain their current parenting schedules to the best of their ability. Courts are only hearing applications on an urgent or emergency basis currently and have been clear that they will not automatically hear an application where there are COVID19-related parenting concerns, and COVID19 will not automatically result in a suspension of one parent’s in-person parenting time. Rather, the courts are encouraging parents to be flexible and to make needed adjustments where parents or children are isolating, ill, or have been exposed to COVID19. In addition, the courts have directed that where one parent has to forgo parenting time due to safety concerns of the children, the other parent must facilitate make-up time when things return to normal. However, some circumstances will rise to level of an emergency. The most important factor will be ensuring the health and safety of the children. Parents who are not properly adhering to physical distancing protocols and who recklessly exposing children to risk of catching or spreading COVID19 are at risk of a temporary suspension of their parenting time during this period of time. Parents dealing with a COVID-related application before the courts will be required to demonstrate the following: a. The parent initiating an urgent motion on this topic will be required to provide specific evidence or examples of behavior or plans by the other parent which are inconsistent with COVID-19 protocols. b. The parent responding to such an urgent motion will be required to provide specific and absolute reassurance that COVID-19 safety measures will be meticulously adhered to including social distancing; use of disinfectants; compliance with public safety directives; etc. c. Both parents will be required to provide very specific and realistic time-sharing proposals which fully address all COVID-19 considerations, in a child-focused manner. d. Judges will likely take judicial notice of the fact that social distancing is now becoming both commonplace and accepted, given the number of public facilities which have now been closed. This is a very good time for both custodial and access parents to spend time with their child at home. (Ribeiro v Wright, 2020 ONSC 1829 at para 21). If you have questions or concerns related to your parenting arrangement during this time, or if you believe your circumstances require an emergency court application, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

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