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Find the Right Family Lawyer for Your Needs in Mississauga

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Published by:

Sarah Chen

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Reviewed by:

Alistair Vigier

Last Modified: 2023-05-05

Are you looking for a family lawyer in Mississauga?

The support of an experienced attorney is instrumental in resolving your family law concerns. You may be able to resolve these issues outside of court. This can be done using forms of alternative dispute resolution known as mediation or arbitration.

If our Mississauga family lawyers work with you and are still unable to achieve an agreement outside of court, you can count on our representation throughout the litigation process.

Family law is serious, and you could get awarded a lot of money. You could also get an order against you for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Pay your lawyer well, and get them to fight for you. They can sort out your problems.

If you have never seen a lawyer before we realize the process can be intimidating. We want you to feel comfortable.

Family Law Disclosure

Are you concerned about family law disclosure?

In Ontario family law courts, it has become expected by judges that both parties to action will provide any and all relevant financial and property disclosure to each other before bringing a motion or proceeding to a settlement conference.

Family law disclosure refers to the process of exchanging information and documents between the parties involved in a family law matter. This process is a critical component of the resolution of family law disputes in Ontario as it helps both parties understand the relevant facts and evidence that will be used to make decisions about their case.

In Ontario, family law disclosure is governed by the Family Law Rules, which outline the obligations of parties to disclose information and provide documentation relevant to the matter. The disclosure process typically begins with one party serving a request for disclosure on the other party. This request can include a request for specific documents or for information about a particular issue.

Request for disclosure

Once a request for disclosure has been served, the recipient has a duty to provide the requested information within a specified timeframe. If the recipient fails to provide the requested information, the court may order the disclosure or take other legal action.

The purpose of family law disclosure is to ensure that both parties have a full understanding of the relevant facts and evidence in a case. This helps to ensure that negotiations or court proceedings are conducted on an informed and equal basis.

It is important to note that the family law disclosure process is not limited to paper documents and can also include the exchange of electronic information and the inspection of physical property. Additionally, the disclosure process may continue throughout the resolution of a case and may be updated as new information comes to light.

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Avoid splitting their finances

Yet a lot of people still want to try and hide their assets and avoid splitting their finances with their ex-spouse.

There are two very big problems with attempting to hide your assets and avoiding providing full disclosure in the Ontario Family Court that you should be aware of before you try to hide information.

The Mississauga family lawyers are here to support you with your family law questions. The lawyers have assisted numerous clients with concerns over agreements.

They also help with separation, child custody and support, mediation, and guardianship.

We recognize that family law issues are some of the most challenging that you can experience on an individual basis. Your concerns will be heightened if you have children who may be involved in the situation as well.

For child support lawyers in Mississauga, a separation lawyer in Mississauga, or a divorce lawyer in Mississauga, evaluation all your options before making a decision.

Read more: How To Get Custody

Repercussions From Hiding Assets In Family Court

There’s another question that most family law judges will ask when parties enter the courtroom. This might happen during the initial court appearance.

This question might be whether or not disclosure has been provided by both parties.

If the answer is anything but “yes” from either party, 9 out of 10 times the judge is likely to start berating whichever party has not provided their disclosure documents.

There’s a good chance it won’t be a fun experience. Judges can order specific documents or general disclosure issues to be dealt with under specific guidelines.

They can order timelines that will allow for the opposing spouse to contact the uncooperative party’s bank or investment institution personally to obtain records themselves.

In some extreme cases, parties are actively trying to hide disclosure documents.

They might be refusing to provide them. Judges can order that these parties are in breach of previous orders and there could be penalties including fines, jail time or payment of the other parties’ legal fees.

Having Your Hidden Records Exposed

You can expect to pay a large number of legal fees for additional court time spent on defending yourself. You will need to fight to prevent having your hidden records or information tracked down and exposed.

Is your former spouse ready to fight to obtain all of your financial and property information? Further, they can show that you are knowingly barring them from obtaining such information.

Are they saying that you are unwilling to provide the information? They are likely to receive court orders against you.

The order might force you to pay their legal fees relating to court dates and time spent trying to access said documents.

To put it bluntly, each time you go to court on the issue of not providing disclosure, you could be paying your lawyer between $3,000 and $5,000.

Family Lawyer Mississauga

Further, you might then also be ordered to pay that same amount for your ex-spouse’s legal fees.

That is for EACH individual court attendance. Furthermore, your lawyer is bound by the professional code of conduct. They must assist in the timely completion of your family law matter.

Are you unwilling to provide disclosure? Your lawyer may seek to leave to no longer represent you on your file. Therefore, you will have to fend for yourself.

This may result in you using multiple lawyers to deal with your file, which will add up financially as each lawyer will have to review and provide their own opinion on what you need to do on your file.

When Should You Consult A Mississauga Family Law Lawyer?

Do you need to consult a family law lawyer? Divorce is not a decision made overnight. Getting from the point of deciding to divorce, through a separation, and to the step of starting your court documentation often takes months or years.

So at what point throughout the process should you book an appointment with a family law lawyer?

Family Lawyer Consultation

If you are the one who is going to initiate the divorce, speaking to a family lawyer before letting your partner know you want to separate may be advantageous. A family lawyer can help you to navigate the conversation.

They can give you ideas on how to come to an early resolution regarding your family law matters. Most importantly they can assist you in ensuring that your assets are protected.

The divorce lawyer can help you prepare for the next step. Also, this includes gathering documentation to support your asset and debt values.

Further, they can also assist to let you know the cost of legal proceedings which gives you time to save up separate funds to pay for the same.

If you have a spouse who has initiated a divorce, then speak to a lawyer as soon as possible. If your spouse has filed paperwork with the family court to begin proceedings, you have a limited time to respond.

A lawyer will ensure that you file the proper response materials and complete the next steps on time.

Even if your spouse hasn’t filed paperwork with the court yet, a lawyer will advise you of your legal rights and can help you negotiate a settlement of your matter before it goes to court.

Mississauga Family Lawyers

Hiring a family lawyer early on often ensures the process gets completed as quickly as possible. Lawyers on both sides will provide advice to their clients on the best options moving forward and their rights under the law.

This will often assist the parties in coming to an agreement or getting to court sooner if necessary.

Lawyers may seem intimidating. This may cause clients to avoid going to a lawyer until the last minute. Sometimes people try and go up against a lawyer by themselves (self-represented.)

This greatly decreases the chances of winning your case. Therefore, make sure you have a lawyer representing you. Also, it is possible to have self-represented coaching if you want lawyers to help but cannot afford one full-time.

In our experience contacting a lawyer earlier is better. There are many different types of professionals who can help you.

A few different types of family law professionals are:

  • Family lawyers
  • Mediators
  • Duty Counsel (legal aid)
  • Legal advice clients (legal aid)

Protection Orders In Mississauga

A law firm can help you try to get a protection order. If the police are not able or willing to help, a family lawyer might be able to. People seek protection orders for several different reasons.

Sometimes someone feels at risk of getting hurt, or their house or property is in danger of damage. Therefore, sometimes a spouse needs a protection order to feel safe from the other spouse.

Domestic abuse is something that most people don’t want to talk about. Besides the police and family lawyers, there are also community and victim service groups.

Police will often side with the storyteller, which we acknowledge is very controversial. There is no need for witnesses or evidence for an arrest to be made.

There will need to be evidence for the crown persecutor to proceed with charges. Further, if the crown does proceed with charges, your spouse would likely have to go to criminal court.

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List of conditions that must be followed

We will focus on family law protection orders in this article. A protection order is an order made by a family judge to protect someone from the other.

Further, a protection order is based on the specific safety needs given in the situation. It likely comes with a list of conditions that must be followed.

A common one is that one spouse will not go within 100 meters of the other spouse or contact them.

Family law protection orders can only be ordered against a member of your family. This could be a partner, guardian or relative. It is meant to protect you and/or your child.

It can be protection against:

When you walk into a fancy office space at a different law firm and are offered expensive coffee, make no mistake, your legal fees are paying for it.

Why not meet your lawyer at Starbucks or at home?

Many of our clients are able to deal with their legal issues using non-confrontational methods. And sometimes those negotiations are made simpler by using an informed third party, such as a mediator or an arbitrator.

Therefore, speak to a lawyer to see what is right for you.

Consult A Family Law Lawyer- Child support

Clearway Law believes that lawyers should represent the public good. Lawyers should try to resolve issues quickly instead of always fighting with the other party.

Hiring a family lawyer in Mississauga does not have to be expensive. By using mediation and arbitration, you can greatly reduce your costs. Family law is the “heart of legal services.”

Lawyers should be able to coach their clients about what they need to do and what they can ignore.

In family law, the stakes are so high that clients need access to credible information. If you have a legal problem, you should consult a family law lawyer.

The Child Support Guidelines are used to lay out the rules for child support debates. This is used to decide how much will be paid to one spouse per month and the amount of time each parent will have with the child.

Further, the parent who has the child most of the time is normally the one who is entitled to child support payments. Please note this is not always the case.

Find the Right Family Lawyer for Your Needs in Mississauga

The first step of getting divorced is usually a one-year separation where both parties live apart and have separate finances. The hope of the Divorce Act is that the married couple will get back together in this one-year period.

Further, there are exceptions to this one-year rule as laid out in the Divorce Act.

Take family law very seriously. There are family lawyers in Mississauga that we can connect you with.

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