About Judith Holzman Law Offices
When it comes to divorce, no one has it all figured out. If you are in search of a family law lawyer, you are likely under significant personal stress. This is understandable. When we provide legal services, we do not forget how deeply personal your experience is. We provide clarity, objective legal advice, integrity and the representation you need to see the way forward.
Our firm has been in operation for more than 40 years, and in that time we have seen significant changes to family law and to the way family law is practiced.
Ending your relationship or making plans for a new relationship is not simple. Even if you have started your own legal research, you cannot do this alone and you do not need to. We are here to assist and guide you through the legal aspects of these life transitions.
Our office is located in Vaughan, Ontario, with a satellite office in Toronto. We also offer virtual services for all of our clients.
We aim to secure the best outcome for you, as efficiently, smoothly, and cost-effectively as possible.
Some of our areas of expertise are as follows:
In Canada, a divorce can be granted on one of three grounds: one year of separation, adultery or cruelty. The most common ground is one year of separation. Adultery and cruelty are technically available but are rarely used because they require proving specific legal criteria, which can be difficult, costly, and time-consuming.
Many couples find that once their children are grown and have left home, they are suddenly looking across the breakfast table at someone who feels like a stranger. Years spent focused on raising children may have caused them to lose touch with their relationship as a couple, and they may no longer wish to spend their retirement years together. Divorce among these older adults is often referred to as “Grey Divorce”.
In family law, the issue of “parenting” is divided into two main components: “decision-making responsibility” and “parenting time”, which replaced the former terms “custody” and “access”.
Child support includes two components: “Table child support” and contribution to a child’s “special or extraordinary expenses” (commonly referred to as “Section 7 expenses”).
Spousal support in Ontario is governed by 1 of 2 statues: the Divorce Act for married spouses or the Family Law Act for common-law partners who have lived together for at least three years or who have a child together and are in a relationship of some permanence.
The property sharing regime in Ontario differs significantly for married and common law spouses. Whereas married spouses have an automatic entitlement to share in the accumulation of wealth during the marriage through “equalization”, common law spouses have no automatic right to share in one another’s solely-owned property.
Grandparent Contact
Grandparents and other family members such as aunts and uncles, can obtain time with the children, known as “contact”, if they have been involved in the children’s lives. The court has the power to order contact with specific third parties under the Children’s Law Reform Act, a provincial statute, or under the Divorce Act, a federal statute.
Until 1985, the granting of a religious divorce in both Jewish and Muslim marriages was solely within the husband’s control. This meant that a husband could refuse to grant a ghett (Jewish divorce) or talaq (Muslim divorce), effectively preventing a woman from remarrying within her faith. Unfortunately, this power was often misused, leveraged as a tool for pressure or negotiation on matters such as child custody, child support, spousal support, or property division.
A family adoption can refer to an adoption of a child who cannot be raised by either one or both of the biological parents. In these cases, the child may be adopted by other relatives or, alternatively, by a new spouse or partner of the parent who has primary care of the child. When an adoption is finalized, the parent whose rights are terminated is no longer responsible for child support and may also lose contact with the child unless an agreement provides otherwise.
We will litigate if necessary, but most people are best served by alternative options. Collaborative family law, mediation and arbitration are all resolution-focused options we encourage most clients to pursue.
In a family law context, Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) refers to out-of-court processes including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, a combination of a mediation and arbitration, or collaborative family law.
Mediation
Mediation involves a third party neutral, known as a mediator, to assist the parties (and their lawyers, as applicable). The mediator does not act for either party and does not provide legal advice. Each party should obtain independent legal advice from their respective lawyer.
Arbitration
Mediation/Arbitration
Parties may choose to proceed using mediation, arbitration, or a combined mediation/arbitration process. Many cases settle during the mediation phase of a med-arb process because the parties know that, if mediation fails, the matter will proceed to arbitration. This often motivates both sides to work harder to resolve their issues during mediation.
Collaborative Family Law
Collaborative family law requires special training for the lawyers. Instead of arguing and taking strict positions for their clients, the collaborative process is an approach where lawyers will listen to the other side while acting for their client and attempt to find a way toward a settlement that hears both of the parties, but of course, they act for their client, but in a more thoughtful and resolution-based way
We assist our clients with a variety of agreements and documents, including the following:
Separation Agreements
A Separation Agreement is a document that addresses some or all of the legal issues arising from a separation, including parenting arrangements, child support, spousal support, property issues and related releases. While a fulsome resolution is being negotiated, parties can also enter into temporary agreements for the purposes of making temporary arrangements, or partial Separation Agreements to resolve certain issues on a final basis.
Cohabitation Agreements and Marriage Contracts
Starting a marriage or cohabitation with a legal agreement can provide certainty and help preserve the long-term health of your relationship. We negotiate Cohabitation Agreements and Marriage Contracts (also known as “prenups”) for clients who want to make arrangements in the event of a future separation, even if that separation is due to one party predeceasing the other.
Memberships
