Glossary
In Debt and Consumer Rights, Cellphones
The termination or end of your wireless services by a service provider.
In Criminal Law
When you miss a court date the court might order a special kind of warrant called a discretionary bench warrant. With a discretionary bench warrant, the court adjourns your case without ordering a bench warrant for your arrest. They will set a new date for your case. If a discretionary bench warrant is ordered, the police will not arrest you, but if you fail to show up on the new date, the discretionary bench warrant will usually become a full bench warrant and you may be arrested.
In Employment and Work, Housing Law, Human Rights, Income Assistance, Tribunals and Courts
The law says that you cannot be discriminated against:
- in employment and housing
- when you buy or receive items and services
- when you make a contract
- by your union or professional association
Discrimination happens when you’re treated unfairly because of protected grounds, also called personal characteristics. Ontario’s Human Rights Code lists 17 protected grounds that include ethnic origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, family status, and disability.
In Criminal Law
This is a criminal offence. If you disobey a court order, including a peace bond you can be charged with this offence. If you are convicted, you can be sentenced to up to two years in jail.
A disposition order is a final order from a judge. For example, you need a disposition order before an enforcement officer can seize and sell someone’s personal property.
In Family Law
A dispute resolution officer (DRO) is a senior lawyer who is trained to help people resolve their issues.
In Family Law
Dispute Resolution Officers (DROs) are experienced family law lawyers trained to help people resolve their issues. Some locations of the Superior Court of Justice and Family Court Branch of the Superior Court of Justice have DROs.
Diversion is a word people use to talk about taking criminal charges out of the court and dealing with them in a more informal way. That means dealing with your charges without having a trial or pleading guilty. You can do things like attend a program, take a course, or complete other tasks away from the court. In the youth criminal justice system this is called Extrajudicial Measures (EJM), Extrajudicial Sanctions (EJS), or informal diversion.
In Family Law
To divide property is the process of dividing a married couple’s assets and debts. This usually happens after they separate or divorce.
Married couples usually share the value of their property. This means that the partner who has more property usually pays money to the partner who has less property. Usually, the property itself is not physically divided.
This is not true for people in a common-law relationship. They usually do not have to share the value of their property if they separate.
In Family Law, Wills and Powers of Attorney
A divorce is a court order that legally ends a marriage.