Spousal support has emerged as a critical issue in family law in Canada, with the Moge case setting a critical precedent. Describe the provisions underlying spousal support and the issues that govern awards of spousal support, drawing upon the text, case law from the text, and the three online readings, Aspe, L.M.P. and G.M.W. Given what you have read, how would you describe the current state of the law of spousal support in Canada?
Family Law in Canada has evolved over the past century. In the 1960’s divorce was very rare and the traditional family was viewed as the norm. Nowadays, there are many more variables to a marriage, including mixed marriages, common-law relationships and single-parent families. Expectations in a family setting have
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The appeal judge agreed that two more years of spousal support was appropriate. The judge’s reasoning was that Ms. Aspe’s financial struggles were not related to the marriage or divorce, but that she needed a period of time to become self-sufficient and financially stable. This is seen in many cases where the female stayed at home to care for children and is in need of extra time to find work and stability. This is similar to the Moge v. Moge …show more content…
v. D.P.W. case, the outcome has less to do about spousal support than child support. The father in this case kept trying to diminish the amount of support he owed to the mother because of changing financial situations. He wanted the support to be retroactively reduced. However, despite establishing a material change of circumstance, as was described in the L.M.P. v. L.S. case, the relevant D.B.S. case that describes a relevant factor was not considered. The D.B.S. case established that four factors need to be taken into consideration for retroactive support, two of which are relevant to spousal support: the circumstances surrounding the delay and the payer’s conduct (L.M.P. v. L.S., 2014, sec. 42). In this case, the father did not notify the mother of any changes in a timely manner and his delay was considered unreasonable. This demonstrates that in Canada’s law system that acting in a timely matter is important. It also shows that child support is viewed as more vital than child support as child support is harder to modify. Children require stability, and retroactive changes in support can alter that stability. In sum, this case shows that acting within a reasonable amount of time is necessary in successful retroactive spousal support
Procedural History The Supreme Court, Appellate, second division modified the the judgment and ordered that the custody of the youngest child remain with the mother. Husband appealed. The Court of Appeals, Jasen,J; held that after the custody of the two older children had been awarded to the husband, it was appropriate for special term to award of the youngest child to the husband in the light of the younger child’s ambivalence as to which of her parents she would prefer to live with and her strong preference to live with two older
The correlation of divorce and unemployment rates or the relationship between marital satisfaction and employment status have relevance to anyone interested or affected by a marriage. This includes married couples, children, relatives, family friends, psychologists, councillors, lawyers, judges, employers, realtors, tax payers, etc. In other words, practically everyone in Canadian society is affected by divorce; and though divorce has also been seen more commonly throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century than any other point in history, are Canadian divorce rates really on the rise? According to the statistics, the divorce rate of Canadian marriages has been more or less decreasing for the past twenty years. In fact, the number of divorces in Canada for every 100,000 people has decreased from a high of 362.3 in 1987 to 220.7 in 2005 (Wyman 1). Yet when we exclude the large and sudden jump of the
The main case that will be discussed in this paper is Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. Walsh. This paper will argue that Bastarache J delivers the significant argument due to the recognition that individual’s choice to marry or not to marry must be respected; benefits arise from both married and common law relationships therefore, the Matrimonial Property Act does not discriminate unmarried heterosexual couples. This essay will address the facts, the legal issues, the decision, and an analysis of the decision.
Rule: 1. Justice White, speaking for the majority believes that the decision in this case is similar to Bell v. Burson, in which held that the state could not deprive a person of there drivers license pertaining to a speeding violation without a hearing. He stated: "The states interest in caring for Stanley’s children is de minimis if Stanley is shown to be a fit father. It insists on presuming rather than proving Stanley’s unfitness solely because it is more convenient to presume than to prove. 2. They concluded that all Illinois parents are constitutionally entitled to a hearing on their fitness before their children are removed from their custody. Denying such a hearing to Stanley and those like him while granting it to other Illinois parents is inescapably contrary to the Equal Protection Clause. 3. The rule of law that justifies the holding of the case is: "It is cardinal with us that the custody, care, and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the state may neither supply nor hinder" (Prince v. Mass.). 4. "The integrity of the family unit has found protection in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Ninth Amendment.
This essay will first address the statute used and interpretation of the threshold test by the courts, and then focus on cases involving vulnerable children to assess whether the statute in The Children Act 1989 is sufficient in protecting these children from harm. I will look at the argument in favour of the current approach taken by the courts, and the counter-argument in favour of changing the current approach. The arguments are delicately balanced and the law is always developing, so it will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court resolves this issue in future.
The Family Law Act was first considered for change as the Government felt that the original act did not deal well with family violence, this led to a National Plan being developed to reduce violence against women and their children . This plan came from an enquiry conducted by the Australian Law Reform Commission in 2010 which produced a report that provided information on Family Violence and the legal response; this included a section within this report that informed the reader on 187 recommendations for possible future reforms of the Family Law Act . The report concluded to show the need for an Amendment for the Family Law Act through research that had been conducted around violence within the home showing that men and women exper...
There was a time when women typically maintained the home and raised children while the husbands were the sole bread-winners for the family finances. However, times have changed and so have women’s rights and expectations for divorce, education, an...
In this day and age there are many variations of what constitutes a couple or family in comparison to many years ago. Long ago the idea of a ‘nuclear family’ was considered the norm; it consisted of the conventional husband, wife and children . But as our society progressed through the years this definition became less conventional and criticisms were made, this definition of ‘family’ did not account for gay unions, soul parents nor did it acknowledge the prevalence of extended family. The definition of family has changed over time, as have the socially defined roles of mothers and fathers. Within these varied family units, situations occur in which divorces and separations take place and a lot of the times these tricky situations may involve children, which can make an already tricky situation even more problematic. There are pieces of legislation which are in place which aim to protect the best interests of a child during the time their parents are going through divorce but sometimes these avenues can be more problematic and ultimately destroy unions whereas other avenues of dispute resolution such as mediation, albeit with its own criticisms, helps to keep relationships afoot in that it provides an opportunity for peaceful and mutual agreements to be made in a more laid back environment.
Men have changed as well; men didn’t used to think that children were their responsibility. If they didn’t want to give their child financial support, they would simply leave and they didn’t spend time with their children, if they didn’t want to. However, things have changed as now, men are required by the law to support their children financially even if they get a divorce. Moreover,
The Canadian family structure has changed greatly in recent years. While divorce rates have jumped, and marriage rates have plummeted, the resulting change has been single parent families (Myles, 2010). As a result of this, single parent families do not have the benefit of dual...
Ideological, social, political, and economic factors of a given period play key roles in developing and maintaining any social welfare policies in which the area of child welfare is not an exception. Throughout the history of child welfare legislation in Canada, Acts have been passed and modified according to the changing concept of childhood and to the varying degree of societal atmosphere of each period.
Coltrane, Scott, and Michele Adams. "The Social Construction of the Divorce "Problem": Morality, Child Victims, and the Politics of Gender." Family Relations 52.4 (2003): 363-72. Print.
Family Law Key Cases, by Helen L. Conway, edited by Jacqueline Martin & Chris Turner, Published by Routledge 2013
Divorce is a growing epidemic in Canada and the United States. It affects both parties involved, being the spouses, and also has a profound affect on children of the marriage. Recently our government has been revising the old divorce act. It was apparent that it was time to revise the act because it did not properly protect the children from being caught in the middle of things.
Since 1960 to 1980 the divorce rate has doubled. Divorce is also known as “dissolution of marriage,” which means the termination of a marital status or marriage. There are four different types of divorce; no-fault divorce, uncontested divorce, simplified divorce, and limited divorce. No-fault divorce is when nobody is at fault for the ending of the marriage. Uncontested divorce is when both husband and wife have agreed to end the marriage. Simplified divorce is when there is no conflict in the marriage but they do not want to be together. A limited divorce is where the couple's separation is monitored by the court. In today’s society, having divorced parents is becoming the new social norm than having parents that are married. When parents