Family Law Research Guide

Format: Print
Location: PRAC
Type: Monograph
This concise book is a quick reference handbook for the issues arising in Ontario family law litigation. It has a discussion on procedure, especially with respect to the Family Law Rules; region-specific information; and a reference guide to the spousal support advisory guidelines. It supplements Handling a Family Law Matter in Ontario by James C. MacDonald (and seven others).

Format: Lexis+
Location: 1st Floor Stacks (print is not updated)
Type: Looseleaf – 6 releases a year
This looseleaf is national in scope, with chapters organized by province where appropriate. It has commentary on marriage and cohabitation, support, children, property, domestic contracts, pensions, income tax, mediation and practice and procedure. It has tables of concordance, the text of legislation with notes on history, digests of the relevant cases and a news tracker. It also comes with the Canadian Family Law Matters Newsletter, published 6 times a year.

Format: Print & Westlaw Texts and Annotations
Location: PRAC
Type: Looseleaf – 4 releases a year
This looseleaf takes a practical approach to examining the substantive and procedural aspects of handling a family law matter. It has chapters on who makes family law; managing the family law file; family law and the legal process in Ontario; preparing for trial; real estate practice and the Family Law Act; wills, estates and the Family Law Act; domestic contracts; enforcement; alternatives to court, mediation, arbitration, collaborative family law; personal precedents; common law spouses; and same-sex couples. Practical tips, precedents, and sample documents and terms are included throughout. The appendices include checklists, proof of facts, issues in focus, terms statutorily defined, words and phrases and selected legal literature.

Format: Print & Westlaw Texts and Annotations
Location: PRAC
Type: Looseleaf – 9 releases a year
This looseleaf is national in scope. It examines the unique evidentiary rules in family law cases and is structured to follow the course of a family law case. It has chapters on provincial evidence acts (including a table of concordance); the family law rules; electronic discovery; children’s evidence; expert evidence, assessments and judicial notice; forensic evidence (including comparison by jurisdiction); trials; exclusionary issues; hearsay and exceptions; fresh evidence and setting aside orders; child protection proceedings; Charter litigation; intimate personal violence; and family violence. It also has a year in review, and the appendices include proof of facts, issues in focus, words and phrases, terms legislatively defined, selected legal literature, and case digests.

Format: Print
Location: PRAC
Type: Monograph
Written for law clerks studying family law, this 2-volume textbook provides an overview of family law in Ontario. It has an introductory party (overview of a marriage breakdown, brief history of family law in Ontario), a part on the substantive law (marriage, dissolution of marriage by annulment and divorce, parenting, support, property rights) and a part on procedure (Family Law Rules, financial disclosure, divorce procedure, support and parenting claims, property claims, negotiation and domestic contracts, variation and indexing of orders and agreements, enforcement). It has sample forms and other documents, and a precedent separation agreement.

Format: Print
Location: PRAC & 1st floor stacks
Type: Monograph
This slim book focuses on the issue of costs in a family law context..

Format: Print; Westlaw Texts and Annotations; ProView
Location: PRAC
Type: Looseleaf – 6 releases a year
This looseleaf is national in scope. It examines the full spectrum of family law enforcement remedies under federal and provincial legislation. It is organized in three parts: support, parenting, and separation agreements. The appendices set out legislation for all Canadian jurisdictions and includes issues in focus, a family law table of concordance, and words and phrases.