Family Mediation and Information Services

Family Law: Legal Help is a new publication which gives information about services and organizations that offer family law help

An Introduction to Family Law in Ontario and Making Decisions and Spending Time with Children have been updated to reflect changes in family law. The changes include:

• • • • replacing the terms custody and access with decision-making responsibility and parenting time
      • using an alternative dispute resolution process or family dispute resolution process to resolve issues out of court
      • updating the rules when one parent wants to relocate with a child

All CLEO resources are provided free of charge. For a complete list of our publications, please visit www.cleo.on.ca.

For help filling out family court forms, see CLEO’s Family Law Guided Pathways

NEWMARKET MANDATORY INFORMATION PROGRAM

 I have attended the MIP – what do I do now?

• Case conference:
  • Your next step will usually be a case conference, which normally isn’t scheduled for the same day as the MIP.
  • If you are bringing or responding to a motion to change you must attend before a Dispute Resolution Officer (“DRO”) before you can take further steps. DRO dates are available at First Appearance court.  If you do not have a First Appearance date, go to the family law counter.
  • If a case conference has been scheduled, you will have received a Case Conference Notice from the other party that tells you when to come to court.
  • If a case conference hasn’t been scheduled and you need to schedule one, go to the family court counter.

• Filing your signed MIP Notice:
  • You will need to file your signed MIP Notice in the continuing record – but you can file it when you file your material for your case conference or when you attend First Appearance court. You don’t need to make a separate trip to the courthouse to file your signed MIP notice.

If you want more information about mediation or Legal Aid Ontario:

• Go to the Family Law Information Centre in the courthouse. You can contact them at 905-853-4816.

If you want more information about court procedures and family law:

• Go to the Ministry of the Attorney General website and click on Family Justice. You’ll find a Guide to Procedure, an online tool to help you fill out court forms and brochures and links to more information.

If you have feedback about the MIP session you attended:

• Visit the Family Justice page of the Ministry of the Attorney General website at: http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/family/. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the link under “Mandatory Information Program Feedback”.

Download the Mandatory Information program

Mental Health Services Overview

The following is an overview of the different types of mental health services which are available:

• Psychiatrists are medical doctors who specialize in psychiatry; as such they can diagnose mental illness and prescribe medication. There is therefore no fee to the patient as this is covered by OHIP. Your family doctor would be able to provide you with a referral. Some provide therapeutic services so ask if this is the case.
• York Region hospitals offer mental health services to children, adolescents and adults free of charge. This is an emergency service and referrals to the Child and Adolescent Clinic comes from your family doctor.
• Agencies offer services free of charge, or for a nominal fee. Sometimes fees are calculated on the basis of income. Some of these include York Women’s Centre, Catholic Community Services of York Region, Jewish Family and Child Services, Family Services of York Region.
• Psychologists can diagnose but cannot prescribe medication. Some can be found in hospitals or agencies. Others are in private practice and the client must pay a fee. If a client has insurance through the workplace it may cover some or all of the service depending on the plan.
• Psychotherapists cannot diagnose or prescribe medication, but conduct therapy. There is a fee for service. Some are able to access third party (workplace) insurance as well.
• Social Workers offer a variety of services and are governed by a provincially accredited association. Social workers work in a variety of settings including hospitals, Children’s Aid Societies, Mental Health organizations and more.

• Children’s mental health agencies offer service to children and their families and there is no fee for this service.

When contacting a mental health practitioner, ask whether they have experience in the field of separation or divorce. If you are investigating service for your child, ask also if the practitioner has experience working with children.  It is your responsibility to ensure you are comfortable with the type of mental health service you obtain.

211 is now available in York Region to assist families in locating services.

Download Services Overview

RESOURCES FOR FATHERS

• The Canadian Father Involvement Network
• Dad advice for Parenting, Gear, Life & More fatherly.com
• Life with a Baby           lifewithababy.com
• Footprints of Fatherhood http://footprintsoffatherhood.wordpress.com/
• The Men’s Project themensproject.ca
• Father’s Mental Health fathersmentalhealth.com
• Dad Central, research and insights that validate the importance of dads dadcentral.ca
• Focus on Fathers is a parenting group just for dads and Reconnecting Fathers is for dads who are living apart from their children 905-770-7040 or 1-800-263-2075 ccsyr.org

Download the Resources for Fathers document

About Family Law Guided Pathways – Steps to Justice

Decision‑making and time with children – Steps to Justice

Videos on Family Law issues

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Videos on Criminal Law issues

Videos on Employment Law issues

Effective February 1, 2023, the Family Law Rules, O. Reg. 114/99 are amended to introduce:

• new court file access rules that enhance privacy for domestic cases involving children
• housekeeping updates to rule 25
• updates to Form 37C: Notice of Continuation of Hearing

Additionally, a pamphlet has been prepared to inform parties about their options upon receiving a court file access notice. It will be available on the Ontario Court Forms website as of February 1, 2023. The public-facing Policies and Procedures on Public Access to Court Files, Documents, and Exhibits have also been updated.

Family Law Rules Forms | Ontario Court Services (ontariocourtforms.on.ca)

https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/990114

“Get copies of family law documents from court” page on www.ontario.ca

All changes can viewed at: https://www.ontario.ca/page/get-copies-family-law-documents-court.

How to get your divorce certificate

If your divorce was filed from July 1968 to the present and you wish to obtain your records, you will need the following information:

• the court location
• court file number
• the year your divorce was granted

If you cannot remember which court processed the application for your divorce, the federal Central registry of Divorce Proceedings may be able to give you the address of the court. They may also give you a reference number. You should give this number to court officials to help them find your file.

The Registry cannot give you detailed information about a divorce, your court file number, or a copy of your divorce certificate.

To contact the Registry:

• call 613-957-4519; or
• for the hearing impaired only 1-800-267-7676; or
• complete a Search Request Form (HTML) (PDF) and send it to the address provided on the form.

If you ask for the information by telephone, please make sure you have the following information at hand when you call:

• your full name on the day before the day of marriage
• your former spouse’s full name on the day before the day of marriage
• the date of birth for both you and your former spouse
• the date you married

Please Click on the link to download a list of GTA Lawyers

GTA Family Lawyers