Advanced Family Law: Resolving the Family Law Case

This course will canvass, at a sophisticated level, various family law issues, including parenting, child and spousal support, division of property, domestic contracts and divorce. Using a problem-solving approach, we will look at various family law scenarios and examine how modern dispute resolution techniques can be used to resolve these problems. The course will examine negotiation, mediation, arbitration, collaborative law and the adversarial system in the family law context. We will also examine the role that experts play in the resolution of family law cases.

The focus of the course will be on the distinctive problems raised in the context of the breakdown of family relationships, which necessarily involves the complex interaction of emotional, legal and financial issues. Students will have an in-depth opportunity to examine how family law problems can be resolved in an effective way in the family law system that operates in Canada. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to critically examine the current family law regime, including analyzing some of the practical problems posed by the legislation and exploring potential avenues of legal reform.