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Child Custody in Ontario July 25, 2020January 27, 2024

Helping Your Children Adjust Positively After Divorce

Children During Divorce

Indisputably, a great number of children experience family instability either due to separation or divorce. While some parent seems existed with starting a new life away from marriage, they still worry how their children will be affected. It’s a fact that when parents come up with the decision to divorce, children may be left in the sense of hopelessness. While some kids may recover faster from that shock, others take time. This may depend on the child’s age, the bases of separation, or divorce. If you’re wondering how to communicate with your children about divorce and help them cope, you can consider consulting a family lawyer in Brampton. Such lawyers offer a free initial consultation.

Impact Of Separation/Divorce On Children

Separation and divorce certainly affect the lives of children. Some of the typical straits one may observe in children may include:

Disruptive behaviors
Learning difficulties
Social discomfort. This is mainly for adolescents. They may find it hard to interact with other children in the fear that they will have social anxiety due to their parent’s relationship.

To some children, the act of separation or divorce doesn’t disturb them, but the mere fact that the environment and way of living have changed. It’s worse for the children whose parents cannot come up with a parenting agreement together. In such a situation, a mediator may be required to offer help to reach a substantial agreement on how to go about kids’ best interests.

How To Provide Mental Stability To Your Children During Divorce

Unfortunately, separations/divorce has taken a toll on most of the Canadian families. The best part is that a parent who is thinking about separation or divorce can take steps to reduce the psychological effects that might occur to your children. A few guided strategies from a Toronto divorce lawyer who have dealt with separation and divorce may help you go a long way to help kids adjust. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, it’s sometimes difficult to know whether a kid has been negatively affected by a separation or divorce. Nevertheless, there are basic ways to protect your kid from ensuring they are not adversely affected by divorce. They include:

Be open: Ensure to tell your kid what is happening and don’t lie to them. You need to be clear on why you want to separate or divorce. Of course, you need to be wise on this- it would be enough to say that you and your spouse have decided to part, and now you need to make new arrangements for their best interests. The best way to handle this would be to talk with your spouse such that when you both deliver the message; kids may receive a positive message.
Help kids feel secured by assuring them that they will still enjoy the life they used to have before separation or divorce.
Look for a professional counselor.
Keep on engaging in health communications and explaining to them that it’s not their fault. A healthy parent-child relationship may help the kids maintain their self -esteem.

Divorce is linked to long term health impacts on children; these effects are so extensive that they may even lead to depression. Studies show that it may take two years before anyone who has been affected by separation or divorce to get back to a normal psychological situation. Staying together for the sake of your children’s mental ability is not an option. Kids who are exposed to everyday family hostility may even be at a higher risk of being depressed than when parents would have separated or divorced.

Child Custody in Ontario July 18, 2019February 22, 2024

Types of Child Custody in Ontario

Divorce is one of the most difficult situations in which a couple can find themselves. In Ontario, Canada, there are certain laws that pertain to child custody. If the marriage produced children, custody issues will arise during a separation or divorce. Generally speaking, the courts make decisions based on what is in the best interests of the child.

Factors that a court may review when making a decision regarding the custody of a child are:

The love and emotional bonds between the child and each of the parents;
The relationship that each parent has with the child;
The primary caregiver of the child during the marriage and post-separation;
The abilities and limitations of each parent to provide for the child;
Each parent’s ability to spend time with the child;
The post-separation residence of the child; and
The standard of life that each parent can provide to the child.

Please note that the above list is not exhaustive, and each case is decided on a case by case basis. A Toronto Divorce Lawyer can provide you with insight into the practices and procedures that are required in your case based on the particular court that is handling the case.

You should also remember that custody orders can be changed the situation of the child or parents changes. If there is a final court order already in place, you may need to bring a “motion to change” an order and will proceed through the court system. Our Toronto Family Lawyers can provide you with more information regarding this process.

Child Custody

What is Custody?

The term “custody” in Canadian law pertains to the parent who has the responsibility of making decisions that directly affect the child. There are a number of areas that can encompass that, including matters such as the child’s health, education, religious upbringing, extracurricular activities and even basic things like sleep, food and social matters.

When custody arrangements are made between divorcing parents, the court will then hold a hearing between the parties. The order dictates which parent is responsible for what regarding the child, determines each parent’s rights and any issues with the non-custodial parent depending on the circumstance.

Custody arrangements can be changed in Ontario if the criteria don’t meet the needs of the child or parents. To change an arrangement, there must be an order filed, but a parent cannot request changes based on a sudden whim. The judge will only accept a request for changes when there is a legitimate reason, such as one parent moving to another province.

Different Types of Child Custody

There are different types of custody in Ontario. Generally, there is confusion over the meaning of “custody” as many people automatically assume it simply means the amount of time a parent spends with their child. In reality, child custody can be broken down into the following categories:

Sole custody: Sole custody involves major decision-making that is done by one parent. Usually, the child lives primarily with this parent, but they may live with the other parent. The court may decide on sole custody when one parent has been the primary parent throughout the course of the marriage based on the best interests of the child.
Joint custody: With joint custody, both parents are equally involved in major decision-making on behalf of the child. This type of custody also means that one parent cannot make a decision without the other agreeing with it. There are also two types of joint custody: joint legal custody and joint physical or shared custody. Parents both make major decisions that affect the child, but with joint legal custody, residence and visitation vary, and with joint physical or shared custody, both parents make major decisions affecting the child and spend at least 40 percent of the time with them.
Split custody: In some cases of divorce in Ontario, there may be a situation of split custody. This type of custody occurs when there are multiple children and one parent has custody of some while the other has custody of the other children. This usually occurs when the children are at least of preteen age and decide they would prefer to live with one parent versus the other.

How Does the Court Decide on the Best Arrangement Regarding Custody?

During a divorce in Ontario, your divorce lawyer will explain that the court can decide on an arrangement that best benefits the child. The wishes of the parents are secondary but are also taken into consideration secondarily. A variety of factors come into play to determine the best custody arrangement, such as the ability of the parents to co-parent in a way that can benefit the child while making decisions that affect them for the long term.

Child Custody in Ontario March 23, 2018October 11, 2022

Divorce and Child Custody Bonds

It is not uncommon in some relationships for a parent to fear for the abduction of their child by the other parent. As a result a step that can be taken by the parent is a provision for a bond to be posted whenever the child travels to another country with the other parent. This article will basically discuss the concept of the child custody bond and how this serves as a protection from abduction of children.

In some extreme cases parents who lose the battle in court have willfully violated the child custody agreement and attempted to flee the country in order to manipulate the system. Such parents may take the child for a routine visit and flee the country with the child leaving the other parent worried about their child’s safety. A recent development has been of the child custody bond, which is a financial incentive for the non-custodial parent to stick with the child custody agreement.

Basically, the parent required to pay the bond must hand the money or a portion of collateral, determined by the judge, over to the court. In the event that the parent violates the child custody order he or she forfeits the money. The basic idea is that the risk of financial loss will motivate the parent to uphold the child custody order. In order for a court to grant a child custody bond it is necessary that the non-custodial parent to be known as a flight risk . However, a parent can also request a child custody bond if they have reason to believe that their ex will violate the child custody arrangement in some way. For example if you have reason to believe that your children are at risk of parental abduction. The basic idea of a child custody bond is to create a financial incentive for the non-custodial parent not to violate the terms of the custody agreement and ultimately this can help to minimize a flight risk or concerns over the potential for abduction.