Family

MD Legals offers practical and effective solutions to a wide range of familial concerns. We understand that often when an individual comes to a lawyer to seek help and guidance to have a peaceful resolution on the issue they are experiencing with a great deal of stress and emotional upheaval. Our practice is to mediate conflicts without the assistance of the Court. Our lawyers have experience representing clients in a number of situations including:

  • Cohabitation Agreements and Post and Pre-nuptial Agreements;
  • Separation and Divorce;
  • Custody and access;?
  • Adoption;
  • Guardianship;
  • Child support;
  • Spousal Support; and
  • Property Division

Whether you are in need of a co-parenting arrangement, child support agreement, separation agreement or pre-nuptial agreement, our Family Law products can help to ensure that your rights and obligations are clear and within the law.

Consent Order

The Court has authority over matters of parenting, child support and spousal support or alimony. Anyone entitled to these remedies can apply to the Court for what they want. A Court Order is the only way to have certainty over your custody arrangement, parenting schedule and the amount and duration of support you pay or receive. This applies to divorcing couples and common-law alike.
A Court Order can come from a ruling made by a judge, or it can be something that 2 people agree upon and want to have formally recognized by the Court. This is what is known as a Consent Order and can save you from a lot of headaches!

Custody & Parenting

Custody means the rights a parent or guardian has to make decisions on behalf of their child. These decisions include:

? Where the child lives
? The child’s cultural and religious upbringing
? Where the child goes to school
? What sports or activities the child participates in
? Giving consent for medical procedures
? Appointing a guardian or legal representative for the child

Different from Custody, Parenting Time refers to the amount of time that the child spends with each parent or guardian. This can be customized to reflect whatever the parents have agreed upon, right down to the time and location that the child is picked up and dropped off.

Child Support

Every child is entitled to financial support from their parents. Child support is the right of the child, not the right of the parent receiving the money, so no parent is able to opt out of child support on behalf of the child. If you are not paying child support, the other parent can apply to the Court for retroactive child support – as far back as 3 years or more! It is important to formalize child support obligations as early as possible, so you are not caught by surprise later on.

Separation Agreement

Unfortunately, divorce is a part of life, but the cost and anxiety of a divorce can be reduced with a well crafted Separation Agreement. Our Separation Agreement can deal with all matters that need to be settled in a divorce, including Custody, Parenting, Child and Spousal Support, Sale of the Matrimonial Home and division of all Matrimonial Property. Once you have put your agreement in writing, and each party has reviewed it with an independent lawyer, we can take care of filing the documents with the Court to have your divorce finalized.