Glossary - Family Law
In Family Law
The Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAGs) are guidelines that can help you and your partner and a judge decide how much spousal support should be paid and for how long. These are only guidelines, not laws. A judge can order more or less support than what the guidelines say.
The SSAGs use 2 different formulas. One is for partners who have no children together. The other is for partners who have children together.
The formulas calculate a range of low, middle, and high support amounts, as well as the length of time spousal support might need to be paid for.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Family Law, Housing Law, Tribunals and Courts
A summons is a legal document that requires a witness to come to a trial or a hearing on a specific date to tell their part of the story.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Family Law
The new term for supervised access is supervised parenting time for most family law cases. If you have a child protection case, the term supervised access may still be used.
Supervised parenting time is a kind of parenting time when someone else watches a parent’s visits with their child. This might be another relative like the child’s grandparent or uncle, or it might be someone from an agency like the Children’s Aid Society.
The purpose of supervised parenting time is usually to make sure the child is safe.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Family Law
A supervised access exchange is when someone watches a parent pick up or drop off the child, but does not watch the access visit. Its purpose is usually to reduce conflict between the parents, or to protect one parent from being abused by the other parent.
In Family Law
Supervised parenting time is a kind of parenting time when someone else watches a parent’s visits with their child. This might be another relative like the child’s grandparent or uncle, or it might be someone from an agency like the Children’s Aid Society.
The purpose of supervised parenting time is usually to make sure the child is safe.
Supervised parenting time is sometimes called supervised access.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Child abuse and neglect, Family Law
A supervision order is when the court decides that your child can live with you, another parent, or a caregiver, but that the Children’s Aid Society has to regularly check that your child is being cared for.
A supervision order can last between 3 and 12 months. And it can include a number of conditions, such as you:
- get tested for drugs regularly
- go for counselling
- go to parenting classes
This is a person who helps you get bail by agreeing to supervise you while you are on bail. This includes making sure you do not commit any more crimes and that you go to court as required. A surety must pledge money as security for your release. If you fail to comply with a condition of your bail, your surety may lose the money they pledged.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Child abuse and neglect, Family Law
A temporary care and custody hearing is a court process where the court decides what should happen to your child while your case is still going on.
What the court decides at this hearing has to be followed until it’s changed by another decision of the court or by an agreement that you make with the Children’s Aid Society.
In Family Law
A temporary order, also called an interim order, is an order that lasts until:
- the period of time, or event, that the order deals with ends
- another temporary order is made
- a final order is made
In Family Law
A trial management conference is a meeting between a judge and you and your partner, and your lawyers if you have any. The purposes of a trial management conference include:
- talking about ways to solve those issues without going to a trial
- deciding how the trial will proceed if you cannot solve your issues
- setting a trial date, if this has not already been done
