Family courts in the cities of Brampton and Milton have started a new initiative this week about helping parents who go though separation and divorce and their children. Judges, lawyers and mediators work together to provide information sessions to parents in the GTA area who plan to divorce in order to inform them about the impact the divorce might have on their children and help them resolve their disputes. Some senior lawyers, also known as dispute resolution officers, help parents to find a less confrontational ways to resolve conflicts before going to court. One of these ways is mediation. Mediation involves a more informal approach to problem solving; and it has been a particularly successful way of resolving domestic disputes.
Brampton and Milton courts were the first courts in the GTA area chosen for the new experiment that is meant to take stress off families who go through hard times. Attorney General Chris Bentley reckons that this initiative will help parents resolve problems with less emotional stress which is detrimental for their children. Hopefully it will Reduce family court battles and help children receive fair levels of child support by requiring annual disclosure of financial information relating to child support payments. The system of family justice has long been in need of a reform and these two GTA courts are the first one to make significant steps in this direction.
Family courts in Ontario process about 160,000 cases per year, most of them in the GTA area. Mostly they deal with matters such as child custody and restraining orders. Ontario parents can also get help understanding how to start a case in family law through another initiative, an interactive tool that helps them fill out 11 of the most common Ontario family court and Ontario small court forms.
