Our Section has a busy year planned for you! With COVID-19 making it impossible to gather in person, maintaining contacts and continuing to share thoughts, ideas and information with colleagues across the country through the CBA is even more important.
Advocacy
The Section Executive met with Justice Canada’s Family and Children’s Law team, as well as representatives from Finance Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency by Zoom on November 18 and 19, 2020. We will continue to advocate in many areas, including matters relating to the amendments to the Divorce Act, FOAEAA, GAPDA and tax issues that are of critical importance to our profession.
The Divorce Act
We have continued our advocacy in relation to the Divorce Act amendments, with Section recommendations, including those on relocation, incorporated in the most recent version of the Act, coming into force March 1, 2021.
We are currently preparing submissions on other new Divorce Act provisions, including recalculation and matters relating to financial disclosure, such as the calculation of child support in cases of Section 9 shared parental responsibility or in hybrid parental responsibility, as well as potential amendments to Section 7 special or extraordinary expenses. Do you have creative clauses for parents sharing Section 7 expenses? Share them with us!
The Justice Canada website has more information on the new amendments as well as a self-study module. Our Section is supporting Justice Canada in the development of a bilingual, evidence, and user-based tool for family law advisers with practical guidance on safely identifying and responding to family violence. Stay tuned for more information!
Tax Matters
We continue to work on tax matters, including the Eligible Dependent Credit in cases of shared care, and the deductibility of legal fees for both payors and recipients of support. Read more about our recent submissions!
Webinars
Did you miss our webinar on Divorce Act Amendments: Highlights to Your Practice? Coming into force on March 1, 2021, these amendments are the most sweeping changes to the Divorce Act in decades. Purchase the recording!
And catch more of our recent and upcoming webinars:
Tools and Resources
Our dedicated volunteers ensure our toolkits are always up to date and relevant for our members, and often for the general public too.
Check out:
- Tax Matters toolkits for lawyers and for clients.
- Legal Health Checks, which offer another way to provide quick and concise information to clients and encourage them to seek more detailed information from you.
Communication and Outreach
The CBA Family Law Section Discussion Board is a place for Section members to post their questions and discuss current issues. Recent threads include commonly arising legal issues around parenting during the pandemic, along with specific issues such as COVID-19 and schooling, and COVID-19 and travelling. Share your thoughts and connect with colleagues across the country – join the discussions now!
I am very excited to be Chair of the Section during this very dynamic and busy year for family law across the country. We encourage you to get involved with our work by contacting us at any time!
Best wishes,
Sharon Kravetsky, Q.C.
Chair, CBA Family Law Section