Family disputes are complicated, so is family law. It covers matters related to spouses, parents and their children. Hence, it causes a lot of emotional distress to the parties involved. Marriage and divorce come under the federal jurisdiction of family law. And, concerns like adoption and property disputes are governed by different provincial laws.
You can read Brian Ludmer’s books and blogs to learn more about family laws.
What does family law govern?
Marriage: Your marriage is treated as an equal partnership under the law. The property that you acquire and hold after your marriage belongs to both partners and gets divided between you two at the time of separation. There are exceptions to this law.
You are also entitled to financial support for yourself and your children if your marriage ends.
Separation & Divorce: Separation happens when you both decide not to stay together. At that time, you need to decide things like who will stay at the paternal home, who will take care of the kids, who will be entitled to financial support and how much should a partner get in the form of support.
You can proceed with separation in different ways:
- You can verbally and mutually agree on the term and conditions
- You can sign a separation document with each term and conditions
- You can hire a lawyer to help you with the process and negotiations
- You can take help from an arbitrator
- You can directly go to the court
You can proceed to take divorce on the grounds of adultery, domestic violence and cruelty or with a proof that both partners have been staying separately for at least a year before the divorce proceedings.
Child Custody: The law doesn’t exclusively grant child custody to their mothers. Fathers are increasingly winning custody these days. The court looks at various possibilities and applies their observation and common sense before granting custody to a parent. If one of you is found guilty of alienating the child from the other parent, you will most likely lose the child’s custody.
Spousal Support: Family law governs the money paid by one spouse to the other in the form of alimony or maintenance. The court reviews many factors before deciding who gets the support and what amount of alimony is the partner entitled to.
Parental Alienation: If one parent manipulates and influences the child to break the relationship with the other parent, the court can intervene to provide support to the estranged parent. If a parent is found guilty of parental alienation, he or she may lose the child’s custody at the time of separation and divorce.
Family violence: Any form of domestic abuse suffered by a spouse or the child comes under the preview of family law. It includes sexual abuse, forced confinement, threatening to kill, denial of basic necessities, psychological and financial abuse or any kind of damage to the property.
Choosing a good lawyer with extensive experience in handling separation and family disputes is critical to the well-being of both the parties. Brian Ludmer and others know matters of child custody and parental alienation.
