Services

Anthony advises small and large corporations along with professional corporations, charities and non-profit organizations.

Anthony advises a wide array of clients with respect to their wills and powers of attorney.  Our Wills clerk will ensure that your documents are drafted with care and in a timely fashion.  Although death is not always easy to talk about, it is something that everyone needs to plan for.

Having a well thought out estate plan is essential to ensure that your loved ones can focus on grieving your loss and not the legal battles you have left. Arguably more important are Powers of Attorney.  These documents detail who you want making decisions for you, and what decisions you want made when you are no longer capable of making these yourself.

Every adult needs a will and powers of attorney because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Anthony can assist you to navigate the daunting and stressful process of administering your loved one’s estate. He also has experience advising and representing clients in estate litigation, estate accounting, and in disputes over guardianship of property and the person.

Ashley is a member of the Niagara Collaborative Family Law Association and the Ontario Collaborative Law Federation.  Ashley has been formally trained in this process since 2018.  This process is goal oriented and is not acrimonious.  The lawyers and the parties work together to find common solutions.

Couples retain experts together to provide answers to difficult financial questions and they agree to accept that expert’s findings. When parents cannot decide upon a parenting plan we work with parenting experts who work tirelessly so that the parties can come to an amicable solution.  Parties who use the collaborative process rarely have to come back to a lawyer to change a custody or support plan, because inherent in the process is that you learn how to work together and make necessary changes.

The best part of this process is that the parties and the lawyers agree, right at the beginning, to stay out of court.  If the matter cannot be resolved collaboratively then there is a strict process that each person must adhere to before issuing a court application.

Ashley has worked on approximately 20 collaborative files in her first years as a collaborative lawyer and has a 100% success rate using this process- nothing has ended up in litigation.

As sad as it may seem, almost 50% of marriages end in divorce and this can leave people emotionally and financially drained.  Marriage contracts provide a crucial road map for how the marriage will proceed and what will happen in the case of separation, divorce and or death. Marriage contracts are absolutely essential, especially for subsequent marriages where one or both spouses have children from a prior relationship.  Consider a marriage contract an instruction manual for marriage. When you look at this contract as more of a “how to guide” the idea becomes more palatable.

Couples who marry later in life and already have assets and children need to know what happens if they die before their spouse because generally, people want to protect their children, and often protect what a deceased spouse worked towards. People need to protect their assets and their children and that is why Marriage Contracts, as unromantic as they sound, are crucial.  When you are contemplating getting married you should meet with our lawyers to discuss how to protect your assets, your income and your children.  It is essential to have a clearly worded marriage contract, and a new will and powers of attorney before you take the plunge and get married!

What people do not know is that marriage contracts do not have to be executed before the marriage takes place.  Of course, it is better to have the contract, signed, sealed and delivered before you get married, but you can enter into a marriage contract at any time.  Having a carefully crafted Marriage Contract can decrease the cost of separation exponentially, and it can make for a happier, more trusting marriage.

The law is very detailed for married people, however the law for those who choose not to marry is not as clear, and can lead to difficult and expensive litigation, which frankly, even most lawyers and judges do not share opinions on the state of the law.

The best way to protect yourself when you enter into a relationship is to put it all in writing.  Setting out each person’s rights and responsibilities and discussing and deciding what happens upon death and or separation provides some much needed predictability in a very unpredictable situation.

Our lawyers have a vast amount of experience assisting people navigating this difficult time.  We work closely with mental health and financial professionals to ensure that this process is as painless as possible. Our child focused, goal based approach has proven successful at the negotiation table and the court room. Our approach is always based upon common sense and logic.

We will never advise a client to further a matter if taking those next steps is not in the client’s emotional, mental and financial best interest.  We provide each client with a package of resources to assist them in navigating the emotional part of separation.  We believe that everyone needs to deal with the emotional end of separation first so that they are able to think clearly and make logical decisions.

Our lawyers have specialized training to assist victims of domestic violence and have been trained to represent victims of the sex trade and have amassed a vast knowledge of how trauma affects the brain.  We use this knowledge when representing our clients who have been victimized and our focus will always be on keeping our clients and their children safe, while protecting their legal interests.

The most difficult part of separation is deciding how you and your spouse are going to share your children.  No parent wants to think of going days, or even a week without seeing their child. The sad reality is that when you separate, outside of rare circumstances, both parents will have to go days, or weeks, without seeing their children.

Our lawyers have amassed crucial, practical experience working closely with parenting coordinators, mental health professionals and child protection agencies to ensure that each family has a plan that works best for their children.  We provide practical advice to clients and are not afraid to tell them when they are behaving unreasonably.

Our lawyers provide clients with practical advice regarding building their case to persuade a court that their parenting plan is superior to their spous’s plan.  We will never advise a client to take a step that has no realistic chance of success.

Child support is a very serious matter and regardless of how the separation occurred or where either party believes blame lies, child support is payable.  It is best to begin paying child support immediately upon separation so that arrears do not accumulate.  Child support is determined by the Federal Child Support Guidelines and you pay child support based upon your income and the number of children for whom you are paying support.

The parenting plan to which you have agreed will also affect the quantum of child support and you should always consult a lawyer with respect to child support. The guideline amount of child support, often referred to as the “table amount” covers such things as food, clothing and shelter.  As most parents know, these are only the most basic of needs that children have.  Day care, sports, braces, physiotherapy, post-secondary education, these are all “special and extraordinary expenses” and are in addition to child support.

Spousal support is not as easy of a question.  You must first prove that you are entitled to receive spousal support and then you must determine the quantum and duration of time to which you are entitled to support.  The spousal support guidelines are only advisory and courts have discretion in the amount of support that they award in each case.

Parenting is the hardest job in the world, and at times, things can get very hard. Sometimes families find themselves dealing with the local Children’s Aid Society, and this can be terrifying. Children’s Aid societies have more power than most police departments in our province and a CAS worker can take your child to a place of safety, without a warrant, if they feel the appropriate circumstances exist. This is absolutely devastating for families.

Our lawyers are able to guide you through the legal process to have your children returned to your care, by assisting you with navigating all of the different services available to you and your family.

Asking for help can be the hardest thing for anyone to do, and when you are involved with any child protection agency, sometimes that is all you were trying to do, or is all you need.  Your efforts may be ignored by those who seem to have power over your life.  We can help you take back control over your life and put the pieces back together so that you can get back to what is most important- parenting.  We are not ones to recommend battling the Children’s Aid Society unless we are 100% certain that they were wrong.  In cases where we have been 100% certain that the CAS was wrong we have brought motions for temporary care and custody immediately and each time we have done this, the children in question have been returned.  In 11 years, this step has been taken three times.

In child protection litigation it is always best to look at the allegations the CAS has made and determine how to best execute their laundry list of requirements. Ultimately, the goal is to get your children returned to your care and to have the society out of our life, so the best way to handle this is to satisfy the society that you are the best parent you can be and that you are always working to get better.  People are often focused on “winning” and proving the other side wrong, and valuable insight is lost on the most important part of these cases- the children.  It is best for children to be with their parents, and we can help you to show the court that you deserve to parent, but always remember, you are our evidence!