Sperm Donors – The "Seed" of Legal Liability Has Been Planted In Kansas
BY ANA KRALJEVIC, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICEIn an interesting January, 2014 decision, a Kansas court held that a man who became a sperm donor after answering an ad in Craigslist…
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Laws Required to Swat Employers’ Hands from Employees’ Tip Jar
BY ANA KRALJEVIC, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICEIn many workplaces in the service sector, tips are pooled together and, at the end of a shift, divided up among the workers on…
New BC Family Law Act – No More Palm Tree Justice for Unmarried Couples
BY ANA KRALJEVIC, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICELast year, British Columbia wholly revamped its family law legislation with a new approach that has serious implications for common-law spouses, whether desired or…
Poor Baby, Poor Mommy – The Rights of Incarcerated Mothers
BY ANA KRALJEVIC, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICEBritish Columbia used to have a program in place which permitted inmates to serve their prison sentence with their babies. Despite the untold benefits…
Blurred Lines – Privacy and the Work/Personal Computer
BY ANA KRALJEVIC, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICEIn today’s computer age, almost all of our actions, from banking to online shopping to private communications with loved ones can be accessed and…
“Assisted” Reproduction – Oh, the Irony!
The federal government enacted the Assisted Human Reproduction Act in 2004 in an effort to regulate reproductive technologies and to prevent its commercialization. However, when examining the practical effects of…
The Post-Secondary "Child:" Guidelines Need not Apply
BY ANA KRALJEVIC, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICEOnce a child reaches his or her eighteenth birthday, the age of majority, the question of whether that child is entitled to support becomes…
Intentional Under-Employment – Judges Tell Payors "Get a Real Job!"
When will Ontario’s courts impute income to a parent for the purpose of calculating his or her child support obligations?Section 19(1)(a) of the Child Support Guidelines grants the court the…
Family Law Agreements: When Independent Legal Advice is Not Enough
In the spirit of encouraging parties to settle their own affairs, courts are generally loathe to overturn domestic contracts. That being said, if a domestic contract is manifestly unfair to…
Paternity Testing in Ontario: Perhaps Damned If You Do, But Certainly Damned If You Don’t
Paternity testing, in most cases, is requested in applications in which child support is sought from a putative father, necessitating a declaration of parentage under sections 4 or 5 of…
Ontario Family Law: What is Property ?
What is “property” and “net family property” under Ontario’s Family Law Act?When completing a financial statement in an Ontario Family Law matter, all property owned by the spouse must be…
Real and Substantial Connection – Forum Conveniens in Family Law
Knowles v. Lindstrom, 2013 CarswellOnt 6935 (Ont. S.C.J.) is a recent family law case that addressed the issue of forum conveniens in a property dispute. This case has significant implications…
The "Simple" Will: Not Always So Simple…
Drafting a simple, uncomplicated will may appear to be a routine task for most legal practitioners in comparison to “flashier” legal matters like messy divorces and high stakes litigation. That…
Kerr v. Baranow: SCC Makes Headway in Family Law Unjust Enrichment Claims
The Supreme Court of Canada's February 2011 decision in Kerr v. Baranow highlighted the entitlements of cohabiting, but unmarried spouses in in family property claims. The Court's ruling on resulting…