Legal Insights

The key steps in a typical matrimonial lawsuit under the Family Law Rules are: the application, answer, case conference(s), motion(s), settlement conference, trial management conference, trial, and appeal. In Ontario, three courts deal with family law matters: The Family Court branch of the Superior Court of Justice; The Superior Court of Justice; and, The Ontario Court of Justice. The Family Court of the Superior Court of Justice (also called the Superior Court of Justice or Family Court) is a specialized court dealing with all aspects of family law. These courts are located throughout Canada and provide specialized judges. In areas of Ontario that do not have a Family Law Court of the Superior Court of Justice, the Superior Court of Justice is the court of superior jurisdiction. In the realm of family law, this court deals with the following issues: property, divorce, custody, access, and support. The Ontario Court of Justice deals with custody, access, support, child protection, and adoption. This court does not deal with divorce or property issues.

When an Application is filed in the Superior Court of Justice or the Family Court of the Superior Court of Justice, whether a court date is set depends on whether the case is standard track or fast track. Applications that contain a claim for divorce or property are standard track, whereas all other cases are fast track. In a case that is standard track, the court clerk does not automatically set a court date when the Application is filed. The Applicant generally waits until the Respondent has been served with an Application and until after he or she has filed an Answer before booking the next step (being a case conference). Generally, an Applicant may obtain a case conference date when the Application is filed by serving and filing a Conference Notice (Form 17). In the Ontario Court of Justice, the first court date or the First Appearance Court (FAC) is always held before a court clerk who, among other duties: Confirms that all of the required documentation have, in fact, been served and filed; If an Answer has been filed, confirms that the case is ready for a hearing, case conference, or settlement conference and thereafter schedules it; and, If an Answer has not been filed,...

The continuing record has all of the documents filed with the court in a case. The continuing record is composed of two volumes: an endorsements volume and a documents volume. The endorsements volume contains a cumulative table of contents, the endorsements in the matter, and the orders in the matter. The documents volume contains all of the documents filed in the case. There are different continuing records for support enforcement cases, child protection cases, and status review hearings. Parties can no longer simply elect to have separate records for each party. Currently, in cases other than enforcement cases, child protection cases, and status review hearings, in order to have separate records for each party, a court order to this effect is required (Family Law Rules, Rule 9(7)). If the continuing record has not been separated, the parties are jointly responsible for adding to the record under the court clerk's supervision. In the case of separated records, each party is responsible, under the clerk's supervision, for adding the documents the party files to the party's own record (Family Law Rules, Rule 9(11)). No party shall serve or file any document that is already in the record, despite any requirement in the Family Law Rules that the document be...