Technology can lift Canadian courts out of the dark ages. So where is it?

By Allison Jones, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – Sun, 28 Oct, 2012

MONTREAL - Technology is transforming the legal landscape in many countries, cutting down on lawyers' fees, saving time for just about anyone who sets foot inside a courthouse and making justice more accessible.

But in Canada, most courts are still stuck in the dark ages, buried in mountains of paper and only now beginning to wake up to the digital world.

"The state of court technology is abysmal," said Ontario Superior Court Justice Fran Kiteley. "We're decades behind other sectors."

A fellow Superior Court judge, David Brown, caused a bit of a stir in the legal community with a recent decision bemoaning the lack of technology in courts.

"From the perspective of the members of the public who use this court, delays caused by our antiquated, wholly inadequate document management system impose unnecessary, but all too real, costs on them," he wrote.

"What if our court had an electronic case management system," Brown mused.

"Yes, Virginia, somewhere, someone must have created such a system, and perhaps sometime, in another decade or so, rumour of such a possibility may waft into the paper-strewn corridors of the court services division of the Ministry of the Attorney General and a slow awakening may occur."

A recent conference in Montreal by the Canadian Centre for Court Technology, a group Kiteley heads up, could perhaps be considered the "slow awakening" for which Brown hopes.

There are pockets of innovation from Canadian courts — British Columbia is widely touted as the leader — but for the most part the glimpses of how modern the courts could be come from south of the border.

A county in Texas started a project that made jury duty more convenient for residents, and the results were startling. People who received jury notices by mail could go online to fill out their questionnaires and select a time that they would be available to report for jury duty.

Only about 50 per cent of people who receive notices show up for jury duty in the U.S., and in some areas it can be as low as 10 per cent, said Jim McMillan, with the National Center for State Courts based in Williamsburg, Va.

Meanwhile, Travis County saw 90 per cent of people show up at their personally selected time, he said. The county also won an environmental award as it was estimated they saved 160,000 kilometres in car trips.

McMillan's proposal to electronically schedule some court appearances elicited oohs and excited nods at the conference. In certain levels of court dozens of cases are scheduled to be heard at 9 a.m. Then, as the judge or justice of the peace works their way down the list, it may take several hours — meaning several hours in lawyers' fees for some — before a case is briefly heard.

"We could do things like reserve times, things like, you know, we do with restaurants and almost everything else in our lives," he said. "We don't make everybody come to the restaurant at 6 p.m. and say, 'Well, you're 400th in line.'"

Instead, McMillan said, what if people checked in at a kiosk and were given a time of 11:20 a.m., for example? They could go run a few errands then return, he suggested.

As for the reams of paper each court case generates, it will, by all accounts, be a while before courts can go completely paperless. But the paperless projects that are being touted are generating interesting results.

In Manatee County in Florida, they set out to determine just how much money they could save if they switched entirely to electronic documents. They found that when court documents were filed electronically and then printed by court staff for use and storage — an intermediary stage at which most Canadian courts find themselves — it cost 57 cents per page.

But when documents were filed, used and stored electronically it cost 11 cents per page.

"We can now take these numbers, give them to our funders and say 'Look, we are running six and seven times more expensively than we could potentially," said McMillan.

In B.C., a recent appeal case was run entirely electronically, saving hundreds of thousands of pages that would have had to have been printed for the five sets of lawyers and the five judges, said Andrew Clark, the project manager for B.C.'s e-Court program. Done electronically, the size of all the appeal documents was 1.8 gigabytes.

The lawyers involved found that it saved them a lot of time and money, savings that they were then able to pass on to their clients.

"We're talking about...a huge reduction in, particularly, public money," he said. "It reduced the cost of litigation."

The only downside those involved in the e-appeal reported? One of the judges quipped that he would have to start going to the gym more often because he wasn't lugging around massive binders.

It's hard to argue with cost savings, but it costs money to implement court technology projects. Governments generally haven't shown great interest in investing in the justice system, instead directing spending to politically popular areas such as health, suggested Kiteley.

"Between more money for justice and more money for MRIs, MRIs win hands down," she said.

Public demand for more modern courts could be what pushes governments to fund new projects, said Ontario Superior Court Justice Larry Whalen.

"When you look at our lives, we're surrounded by technology...so I think government has a responsibility of investing in technology to facilitate justice," he said.

People who choose to represent themselves in court cases perhaps have the most to gain from technology in court, said Whalen.

Nova Scotia created a website, with federal funding, dedicated to helping people through family law proceedings. Forms to file emergency applications, contacts for community agencies, steps toward mediation and information on what happens when children are taken into care are all easily found on the homepage.

That province has also webcasted Appeal Court cases, which allows anyone who can get on the website to watch a full court case.

Online court access expands exponentially south of the border, particularly in the U.S. federal court system. For a fee, people can search for case filings, motions and decisions. There are currently one million users of the system, said McMillan, and last year the courts received $41 million in fees.

The caveat, depending on one's viewpoint, is that more than 90 per cent of that revenue comes from commercial data aggregators, McMillan said.

"These commercial entities are in our courts now anyway, collecting this information whether it comes from manual input or whatever," he said. "It doesn't bother me that if they're reselling and making nice profits off that that they shouldn't help us facilitate (electronic access)."

The idea clearly leaves Kiteley unsettled, though.

While credit bureaus already send people to sift through court files and take note of who has judgments in areas such as bankruptcy against them, it might not be good for everyone to provide easy online access, she said.

"Do we want to have data aggregators reviewing every single application for divorce?" she said. "Say Jane Smith and Bob Smith are getting divorced and here's their addresses and here's the names of their children and the schools their children are at and do we want a data aggregator to send to these now separated spouses online dating information?

"Do we allow that to happen even though that would give money back to the courts?"

The judges involved with the Canadian Centre for Court Technology say that not only does the government need to provide funding, but the judiciary needs to show some leadership on the issue if any progress can be expected.

Kiteley suggested what put B.C. ahead several years ago was a "triumvirate of leaders," in the deputy attorney general, the B.C. Supreme Court chief justice and the provincial court chief justice.

McMillan, who has worked on court technology projects all over the globe, said Singapore is probably the world leader. He named South Korea as a close second. As for Canada?

"It's not terrible," he said.

Warning to Men: Just When You Thought It Couldn’t Get Worse– New Alimony Law

Warning to Men: Just When You Thought It Couldn’t Get Worse– New Alimony Law

Posted December 22, 2011 by LawDiva in Divorce, Family Law. Tagged: alimony, Carol Rogerson, Rollie Thompson, separation agreement, spousal support, Supreme Court of Canada

You can’t quarrel with the fact that a stay-at-home mom, who has been married for 20 years, has three kids and has never worked, is a worthy recipient of spousal support. And, believe me…she needs it.
It took some time for Canadian men to accept that if they had income and their ex-wife did not, they were bound to pay some spousal support, even if their spouse left the marriage or worse even took up with another partner. Forty-years ago it was not too big a “hit”, as our Courts favored a “clean break” approach, meaning not much support, for not very long.
A few years later, as lawyers, legislators and judges encouraged and promoted support agreements, supported spouses who entered into separation agreements, but wanted or needed more support, had to prove their increased need was based on a “radical” change in their circumstances, causally related to the marriage. That too posed a challenge for women seeking support and carried on the pattern of low support orders for limited periods of time.
In the 1990’s the law changed rapidly and saw more women getting more support for longer periods of time, until 2006 when the federal government empowered law professors Carol Rogerson and Rollie Thompson to create “Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines”, which though never passed into law, were quickly adopted by all the Provinces.
This was real change. It became more difficult for a smooth-talking lawyer to convince a judge that the old rules still applied, namely that spousal support should be “short and not sweet”. The Guidelines provided schedules based on the payor’s income that introduced consistency in support awards across Canada and the new theme meant that men had to dig deeper and pay for a much longer period of time, even indefinitely.
Any hope of reprieve for long-time support payors was that when their financial circumstances changed due to illness, retirement or the vicissitudes of life, they could go back to court and apply for a reduction in spousal support, based on a “material change” in circumstances, theirs or their ex-spouse’s.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada gave short shrift to support payors’ “faint-hope”. What the majority of the Court said was because a separation “may result in dramatic life changes and emotional stress…these circumstances give rise to the possibility that the ability of separating spouses to realistically and objectively assess their current and future needs and preferences, can be impaired”.
In other words, don’t count on a separation agreement dealing with spousal support to be upheld in Canada. The Court held that the notion that separation agreements should be accorded “significant weight…is problematic”. Now they tell us?
Lawyers, who have been criticized for years, for “promoting” litigation, have just learned that Canada’s highest court eschews long-held contract principles of finality and certainty, comparing them to the condemned “clean break” approach of the 1970’s.
For what good it does, it must be noted that Chief Justice McLachlin and Justice Cromwell took a different view, holding that a support agreement plays a central role in the variation of a support order. They voiced puzzlement at the logic employed by the majority of the court, saying their approach is at odds with the “basic purpose of agreements, namely to apportion the risks of future uncertain events in order to achieve finality and certainty.”
What is certain is that while there is a new wave of American lawmakers restricting long-term alimony, Canada is on the opposite track. If this is the Court’s way of discouraging divorce, they may be on to something.
Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang

Lawyer Liable for $950,000 Judgment in Parental Abduction Case

Lawyer Liable for $950,000 Judgment in Parental Abduction Case

Posted February 16, 2012 by LawDiva in Divorce, Family Law. Tagged: Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, Marie Carrascosa, parental abduction, Peter Innes, Spain, Victoria Innes. 4 Comments


A lawyer who mistakenly released a child’s passport to the child’s mother, contrary to a court order, has been ordered to pay $950,000 to the father of a child abducted by her client from New Jersy to Spain.

The parents of Victoria Innes, Peter Innes and Marie Carrascosa, were married in Spain in 1999 but resided in the United States. Their daughter, Victoria, was born in 2000. Their marriage ended in 2004. Victoria had both US and Spanish citizenship.

After an acrimonious dispute Victoria’s parents signed an agreement in 2004 that prohibited both parties from international travel with Victoria without the consent of the other parent. The agreement also provided that Victoria’s passport would be held in trust by Ms. Carrascosa’s lawyer.

When Ms. Carrascosa changed lawyers her file was delivered to the new lawyer, however, her new lawyer, Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, was not aware that Victoria’s passport was to held by her and not released to her client without Mr. Innes’ consent or a court order.

Ms. Carrascosa, a lawyer in Spain, took advantage of the situation, obtained the passport from her lawyer and promptly fled to Spain where she and her daughter stayed with Victoria’s maternal grandmother. Later Ms. Carrascosa returned to New Jersey but refused to return Victoria, alleging the Spanish court had jurisdiction and would not let Victoria leave the country until she was 18-years-old.

In the meantime, Victoria’s father had obtained an American order for custody of Victoria and attempted to enforce it, to no avail. Ms. Carrascosa was charged with contempt of court and interfering with custody and was sentenced to fourteen years in prison, where she has been languishing since 2006, determined not to comply with American justice.

Despite all efforts and the involvement of Spanish/ American judicial mediators at the Hague Court in Holland, Victoria remains in Spain.

Parental abduction is the worst form of child abuse. While the Hackensack court undoubtedly meted out strict punishment, so far it has not motivated Victoria’s mother to relinquish her hold on Victoria.

Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang

Vancouver lawyer making $57,000 a month wins reduction of payments to ex-wife

Vancouver lawyer making $57,000 a month wins reduction of payments to ex-wife

By NEAL HALL | Vancouver Sun – 22 hours ago


VANCOUVER - A Vancouver lawyer making $57,000 a month recently went to court and succeeded in having his payments reduced to his ex-wife.

The lawyer, identified only as C.D. in a B.C. Supreme Court judgment, had urged the court to reduce his monthly spousal support payments to $8,500 a month this year, to be stepped down over the next three years to $5,000 a month.

Until this month, he was paying $11,500 a month to his ex-wife, A.B., plus another $49,000 a year for the educational expenses of his two children.

Justice Susan Griffin decided a more appropriate payment was $10,000 a month for the next 10 years, when the matter can be reviewed.

The judge noted that the ex-wife, a former flight attendant, did not work during the 15-year marriage and stayed home to look after the couple's two children, allowing the lawyer to work long hours and become very successful.

When the couple married in 1990, the lawyer was making $50,000 a year in Ontario.

The couple decided to move to Vancouver in 1994, where the lawyer's career took off, allowing him to earn up to $800,000 a year.

During the last three years, the lawyer has made on average $684,000, which works out to $57,000 per month.

The husband argued his ex-wife was deliberately underemployed.

The wife took an interior design course and has won awards as a "home stager" - selecting furniture and furnishing to stage homes to make them sell quickly.

She hoped to earn $15,000 to $20,000 this year, the judge pointed out.

"Her actions are inconsistent with the suggestion that she has deliberately been underemployed," the judge observed this week in a written judgment.

The judge found the wife lived a modest lifestyle in a 1919 home in North Vancouver, compared to the lifestyle of the husband, who lives in West Vancouver, has another home in Qualicum Beach, has substantial retirement savings and is earning a large income that will allow him to continue to accumulate assets and savings.

"It is very unlikely she will ever achieve self-sufficiency to a degree that overcomes the economic disadvantages of marriage or approximates the advantages the husband gained from the marriage," the judge concluded.

The judge also noted that while she saw no reason information to justify hiding the litigants' names by reducing them to initials, the husband "strongly opposed" having his name made public.

The full judgment is online at: http://bit.ly/ykLDLR

nhall@vancouversun.com

5 Of the Dirtiest Divorce tricks

5 of the dirtiest divorce tricks  

Posted October 29, 2011 by LawDiva in Divorce, Family Law. Tagged: child support, dirty divorce tricks, father's access, spousal support. 7 Comments

Some divorcing spouses treat each other deplorably. In these sad cases, it is actually hard to believe they were once in love. Candour and kindness are replaced by artifice and cruelty. Divorce lawyers are well aware of the grab bag of dirty tricks spouses inflict on each other. My top five dirtiest divorce tricks are:
1. Conflicting Out All of the Top Divorce Lawyers
An age-old practice for a spouse who expects a long, drawn out divorce battle is to ensure their estranged partner can’t retain a top divorce lawyer. It goes like this – husband or wife makes appointments with the top lawyers in the area. At each meeting they reveal enough about their situation that the top lawyer, who they have no real intention of retaining, cannot act for their spouse. If each top lawyer charges them $500.00 for a one hour consultation, they only spend a few thousand dollars to ensure they have defanged their spouse by preventing him or her from hiring a “gun” equivalent to their top-tier counsel. Yes, this happens in the world of high net worth divorce.
2. Firing Your Lawyer Just Before Trial
Another effective divorce trick is to fire your lawyer weeks before your divorce trial is set to commence. How does this work? It’s easy. Let’s say you are the wife of a wealthy husband. Since you obtained a court order ejecting your husband from the family home, you now reside in luxury with peace and quiet; you are receiving thousands of dollars a month in tax-free child and spousal support; and your life consists of tennis lessons, lunch with the girls at the Club and evening soirees. Meanwhile your husband is doing what he always does: travelling around the world doing business deals to support your mutual lifestyles. He doesn’t even see the kids much, so there’s no hassles at all.
Why would you spoil all this by taking a chance that a judge may eliminate some part of your lavish lifestyle or impose an access schedule for the children to see their father that may interfere with your plans?
3. Transferring Your Assets Off-Shore
While you may live a life of champagne and caviar, it is unlikely you can maintain that level of opulence if your spouse has arranged to stash all his liquid assets off-shore in trusts set up in any number of tax havens such as the Bahamas, the Isle of Man, Turks and Caicos or Switzerland.
In many jurisdictions a Court may make an order that off-shore assets be divided between the spouses, but just wait until you see how difficult it is for you to convince the foreign jurisdiction they must obey the order of a North American Court. All I can say is good luck!
4. Arranging Multiple Mortgages on Your Real Estate
It is not uncommon to see marriages where the “little lady” has no idea of what she and her husband are really worth. Imagine a spouse’s disappointment when their lawyer informs them that the family home and their summer cottage are mortgaged to the hilt and have little or no equity. Their once middle-class standard of living evaporates as Mrs. now looks for a basement suite to house her and her two children.
Another real estate divorce trick is to build a lavish home on leased land that is situated on property that is in the agricultural land reserve, so that while it may have cost $3 million to build, it has no real market value since nobody in their right mind would purchase this property. Yes, this is a true story.
5. Building a House of Cards
For a time life is grand, but inevitably problems arise in your marriage. In an effort to please your spouse you try you to spend your way back to the marriage you once had. Little does your spouse know that the trips to Europe, Hawaii and the Super Bowl were leveraged, courtesy of American Express or Visa. The marriage does not survive and you discover your net worth is much less than you expected as you have tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt all used for the family. Let’s just hope the Sistine Chapel was worth it.
Perhaps you think that with the explosion of mediation and collaborative divorce, these tricks have lost their lustre? Think again. For spouses who need revenge more than they need closure, they are alive and well.
Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang

Divorcing Couple Ordered to Exchange Social Media Passwords

Nov

Divorcing Couple Ordered to Exchange Social Media Passwords

Posted November 12, 2011 by LawDiva in Divorce, Family Law. Tagged: Courtney Gallion, Facebook, Judge Kenneth Schluger, Linkedin, MySpace, social media, Stephen Gallion, Twitter. 2 Comments

By now everyone should know that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. can provide fertile ground for discovering information about your neighbour, your kids and most importantly, your ex-wife. Recently Judge Kenneth Schluger ordered a divorcing Connecticut couple, Stephen and Courtney Gallion, to exchange their Facebook and dating website passwords.
It seems that Mr. Gallion found some incriminating information about his wife while surfing the web on the computer he shared with her. Courtney Gallion had posted comments about their children and her feelings about their role in her life that her husband thought might be useful for him in his goal to obtain custody of their children.
During a deposition of Ms. Gallion, her husband’s lawyer asked her to provide passwords for her Facebook account and two dating sites she had joined: EHarmony and Match. Her lawyer initially refused to reveal the passwords but later relented.
Upon releasing the passwords, Ms. Gallion texted a close friend and asked her to change the passwords and delete some messages she had posted. That’s when the matter came before Judge Schluger as Mr. Gallion sought to prevent his wife from deleting messages and asked the judge to order the exchange of passwords.
The Court made the orders sought and directed that neither of the parties could visit the websites of the other and post messages purporting to be the other.
But it is not just divorce cases where social media can play an evidentiary role. In a case in Pennsylvania a professional racecar driver sued the owner of a motor speedway for injuries suffered during a race.
The Court ordered the plaintiff to provide his Facebook and MySpace passwords which revealed photos of a fishing trip and a jaunt to the Daytona 500 which undermined the plaintiff’s assertions of physical injury. (McMillan v. Hummingway Speedway #113-2010 CD, Pennsylvania, Sept. 9, 2010)
In another case the Court became a “friend” of the litigant so the Judge could personally review the Facebook postings, looking for relevant evidence in another personal injury case. (Offenback v. Bowman 10- CV 1789 Pennsylvania October 2011).
So, what happened to privacy? It appears that litigation trumps any expectation of privacy in our new world of social media.
Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang

B.C. judges take provincial government to court

CBC News 

Posted: Oct 14, 2011 6:06 AM PT 

Last Updated: Oct 14, 2011 1:27 PM PT 

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DOCUMENT: Judges' lawsuit (PDF)

Provincial court judges are taking the B.C. government to court, arguing that the provincial government was irrational and unreasonable when it denied them a pay raise that wouldn't even come into effect for another 18 months.

A Judges Compensation Commission reported back to government last year, recommending a salary increase in April 2013 equivalent to the increase in the cost of living in B.C. since April 2010, along with some pension plan improvements.

The government rejected the recommendation, saying that because other civil servants’ compensation was tied to judges’ salaries, it would be too expensive.

According to a lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court, the judges argue that the province’s rejection was unreasonable.

The judges say that the government policy of holding back wage increases across the board shouldn't apply to them because they're not public sector employees, but are an independent branch of government.

The judges also point to an ever-increasing workload and a salary gap between themselves and their counterparts in the B.C. Supreme Court.

The government argued in May that provincial court judges in the last several years had received significant increases in salary — rising by more than 40 per cent to $231,138 in 2010 from $161,250 in 2004.

As of May 2010, there were 111 full-time and 35 part-time provincial court judges in 88 communities throughout B.C.

The provincial government hasn't filed a statement of defence to the legal action, which was filed with the court on Wednesday.

But at the legislature in Victoria on Friday, B.C. Attorney General Shirley Bond said she's disappointed provincial judges are suing her ministry, but the government will be vigorously defending itself against this lawsuit.

"The rationale that the government had for rejecting the recommendation is clearly outlined in Hansard. It was debated publicly in the legislature, so I'm disappointed. But obviously as a matter before the courts, I can't discuss the specifics of what the discussion will be before the courts," she said.

With files from the CBC's Ben Hadaway

Another good post

Here is another good post from one of my favorite bloggers, Check it out...



Sep

Even Divorce Lawyers Can’t Afford a Divorce Lawyer

Posted September 8, 2011 by LawDiva in Divorce, Family Law, Judges, Lawyers. Tagged: Family Court, in-person litigants, lay litigants, Queen's Bench, self-represented litigants, Supreme Court. 4 Comments


It should come as no surprise to anyone that most Canadians cannot afford a lawyer. In fact, lawyers often joke that if they had to pay a lawyer, they too couldn’t afford it. Nowhere is this dilemma more obvious than in family courts.

It is now commonplace to see self-represented litigants dueling with lawyers in most of our family courts in Canada. In British Columbia a parent or spouse can apply for custody and child and spousal support in the Provincial Court, which is purposely “user-friendly”. The Provincial Family Courts across Canada have successfully implemented reforms including plain-language court documents that are readily decipherable by lay litigants. The judges in Provincial Court are accustomed to hearing cases without lawyers and graciously assist those who act for themselves.

However, to obtain a divorce or property division, the only venue is each province’s Supreme Court, sometimes called “Queen’s Bench”, a most inhospitable environment for in-person litigants.

In a 2011 survey of Ontario divorce lawyers, conducted by Professor Nick Bala of Queen’s University Law School, he found that 48% of 167 responding lawyers indicated they were seeing many cases with at least one lay litigant and more cases where at some point in the litigation, neither party had counsel.

As family law becomes increasingly more complicated, despite the Canadian government’s sensible introduction of both Child Support Guidelines in 1997 and Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines in 2006, there are minefields enough for lawyers, never mind those who are forced to act as their own lawyer.

Will a lay litigant understand that in calculating their income for the payment of child support they must consider and understand complex nuances such as the possibility of the exclusion of non-recurring income; the need to include all of their capital gains income in their calculation and not just the portion they see on page two of their tax return; and their ability to deduct business expenses, union or professional dues and carrying costs? I doubt it. Not all lawyers have figured it out yet!

But affordability is not the only reason litigants refuse to retain counsel. There is another group of litigants who believe they can handle their divorce case just as well as a lawyer can. This smaller segment often become serial litigators who, because it costs them nothing, bring multiple frivolous applications, although some would say that lawyers do the same thing! Often when offered pro bono counsel, they decline.

Problems abound for all involved in the family justice system in the wake of the impact of lay litigants. Judges who must ensure that justice is both done, and seen to be done, are at the centre of the dilemma. If they provide too much help for an in-person litigant, that litigant’s spouse will see it as an unfair advantage and often, the court Rules that govern court procedures are less stringently enforced when it comes to litigants with no lawyer.

As well, litigants that pay for their own lawyer often become disenchanted with their counsel when they see their lawyer “helping” their estranged spouse who has no counsel. Lawyers are bound to treat participants in the justice system with courtesy and respect, traits that are frequently misconceived as their lawyer being “too friendly” with their opponent. Fee-paying litigants resent their lawyer telling their spouse what the law is or how the court process works.

For lawyers the problems are multiplied. They must walk a fine line in dealing with an unrepresented spouse and must ensure that all communication with an in-person litigant is documented in writing, with no exceptions. Of course, their clients are even more unhappy since it is their clients who pay the bills for the extra time and effort required to work with a lay litigant.

Lay litigants have also been known to send abusive communication to their spouse’s lawyer and from time to time, report their spouse’s lawyer to the Law Society, a complaint which can cost a lawyer hours of wasted time to respond to the often ill-founded allegations.

Is there a cure? They say that recognizing a problem is the first step to solving it. Certainly,the issue can no longer be avoided. It has taken centre stage as a result of lawyers, judges, court administrators, law professors,lawmakers, and the Canadian public decrying the slow demise of Canada’s family justice system.

Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang

Another good website, I wonder if we can get Canadian issues...

Another good website, I wonder if we can get Canadian issues and maybe other countries as well involed with this site... It would be very helpful

http://www.mensrights.com/

News from FMEP

Fathers Battling Injustice


News I got from FMEP

Posted By: Cassandra
Date: Thursday, 29 January 2009, at 2:16 a.m.

The FMEP in BC have stated to my local MLA's office this week information and the MLA's office emailed me this info and I think its really important for the men who are stuck paying for children that are not biologically theirs.

Stated to me in a email was this:

"They feel they have enough on this file to stop the payment at this point. I suspect they will not make any further payments until proof of DNA testing to prove he is the father comes forward. " Thats what the FMEP said and then this:

"The FMEP folks feel that this is a man who has been paying for a child that is not his and that is not what the FMEP is all about. They are there to collect money from biological fathers unless a surrogate father willingly chooses to pay."

Notice they said willingly chooses to pay. I highly suggest you guys contact the FMEP to confirm this and let media know about it.

In my case I always said the payor wasnt the father, he insisted he was. Even now 20 yrs later he insists hes the father but bc I told the FMEP he wasnt the father even though a judge ordered support to be paid (told judge same thing..not the dad 20 yrs ago) they (FMEP) now refuse to enforce the court order stating what they have above that I posted here to you.

This is for the benefit of all you guys who are being made to pay support for children that ARE NOT yours. The FMEP IS STATING YOU DONT HAVE TO PAY THE COURT ORDERED CHILD SUPPORT FOR A CHILD THAT ISNT YOURS!

I have been fighting with them to enforce my 2 support orders for the last 2 yrs..they never bothered at all before and I was fed up. They have lied and are contravening the Family Relations Act and they are not suppose to just arbitrarily change court orders.

Last week they told my 1 ex to hurry and file court docs against me to erase the arrears (only like 6200 left owing, no more payments left). Told me they gave him 2 weeks..already gave him 3 months and he hadnt filed in that time and this whole time they are witholding support payments to me (2700 worth). Then this week they decided since hes not the father he doesnt have to pay support and I'm not getting any monies. All the while hes still insisting hes the father and the judge said well then you pay.

So apparently all you have to say is you filed in court (but didnt)and send them a notice of motion and affidavit (but remember you dont need to file it) and they will stop all payments and enforcement and if that doesnt work just say you are not the kids father bc apparently contrary to the family law act they dont make you pay. They are screwed up and seriously need an overhaul. Everytime I filed a complaint against them they would lie or make excuses to the people I filed my complaints to. Hows that for our tax dollars at work??

Civil rights blog

I have just copied and pasted this from the front page of a great blog, I hope you go there and read it, I am only trying to give him more exposure... Things have got to change!!!!!

CIVIL RIGHTS BLOG



CRB





CANADA

Canadian Charter of Rights

Human rights experts have considered the cases of child support orders in Canada for "children of the marriage" and find that these cases are politically motivated, and another example of a growing trend of authorities using the law to silence inconvenient opposition.

Join our forum and speak out against the abuses against men in Canada by the Canadian Judical System. Why against men because statistics show that the orders are 97% against men.

Contact us by emailing

editor@civilrightsblog.org





Topics are illegal child support orders in the name of Children of the Marriage and unreasonable spousal support orders.

Nobody should pay child support for children of the marriage of for children that are not theirs biologically. This is a financial scam for women against men to collect extra money.

The Biological father should be the one forced to pay more if more child support money is required.

Paying child support in Canada for children of the marriage is illegal and immoral and should be outlawed. Just because the courts order it doesn't make it legal.

Stand up for your civil-rights and say NO!!!! I will not allow you to abuse my rights.

Unsubstantiated spousal support is an other illegal action by the BC-Canadian courts. All claims must be justified by documentation and not accepted by simple affidavits supplied by enraged a ex-spouse.

No one should be made to pay spousal support higher than ones substantiated income.

British Columbia and the Attorney General Wally Opal do nothing and allow polygamy and underage marriage in BC. 2008 (click here for article)

Manitoba AG goes overboard to have men jailed, reputations destroyed and all assets seized as well as outrageous fines for civil disobedience.
What does the Canadian Civil Liberties Association say about child support for children of the marriage. Nothing they won't respond. Does the CCLA not want to challenge any unpopular rulings that may affect their funding sources?.

If all men in Canada that have been ordered to pay child support for their non-biological children (Children of the Marriage) refused to pay then this atrocity of a law against men will go away. The prisons wouldn't be big enough to house them all. Men in Canada why don't you stand up for your civil rights? This is a nothing other than a government driven scam for women to collect money from men.

Child Support Billing Errors and/or Questionable Practices of Canadian Enforcement Agencies for the Canadian Children of the Marriage Law-Scam.

Would you please distribute this message widely to all interested individuals and groups: It is apparent from our correspondence with statistics Canada that there is no interest into disseminating this information. The Canadian law regarding children of the marriage is nothing other than a financial money grab for the benefit of women and supported by politicians and women's rights groups.

If you feel you have been ordered to pay child support that you believe you do not owe for reasons of Children of the Marriage Law, or you believe you have experienced a questionable practice by a enforcement agency in regard to child support payments, then civilrightsblog.org (CRB) wants to hear from you.

Civilrightsblog (www.civilrightsblog.org), a national nonprofit educational organization, is gathering nationwide information regarding child support billing errors and/or questionable practices of child support agencies in Canada.

Perhaps your credit report has been affected by the alleged child support arrearage or your driver's license or business license has been threatened with suspension. Perhaps your income tax refund has been intercepted or your bank account has been seized when you believe child support was not due. Or, perhaps you have been arrested or threatened with arrest due to what you believe is an error or questionable child support policy.

Maybe you believe your child support payment has been collected by the child support agency, is "stuck in the system," and has not been accurately distributed to the custodial parent.

If you are a custodial parent, perhaps you know that child support money has been paid into the child support agency by the noncustodial parent, but you believe that the collected child support is being held by the agency instead of being forwarded to the custodial parent and children.

There may be any number of scenarios in addition to the above. We want to hear your feedback.

If you have information that you feel would be of interest to civilrightsblog.org regarding child support (children of the marriage), we would like to hear from you also.

Would you please contact the editor by sending an e-mail to: editor@civilrightsblog.org

IMPORTANT: Would you please enclose in your e-mail message to civilrightsblog.org the following information? (All information will be kept confidential).

1. Your name (last name is optional), telephone number and e-mail address.

2. Your province and city in which you live.

3. The city, county, and province where your child support order is from, i.e., where you pay your child support to or your employer sends the garnishments to.

4. Description of your error or concern and the effect it has had on you and your family, including your extended family and your children.

5. Have you or someone you know been wrongfully arrested or threatened with arrest regarding child support? Please describe your experience.

6. Do you give civilrightsblog.org permission to contact you at the e-mail address or phone number you indicated so that we may gather more information from you? Yes? No?

Thank you in advance for your responses to this message. Your help is greatly appreciated. Please note that personal responses to all of your messages will not be possible due to time constraints and the anticipated volume of responses, but all of your responses will be read and appreciated.

Please note: Civilrightsblog.org (CRB) is an educational nonprofit organization. We do not offer legal advice.





No! Canada

Alimony or spousal support for more than one year and child support for non-paternal children is a unconstitutional servitude against men.

The national anthem of Canada – O Canada! – states “true patriot love in all thy sons command” and that citizens “stand on guard for thee.”

“True patriot love?” Hardly.

“Stand on guard?” Absolutely, but not necessarily for the reasons the patriot songwriter intended.

Based on Canada’s track record of abuse and injustice towards many of its populace, it’s more appropriate for Canadians to be shouting No! Canada … or for them to be on guard, looking over their shoulders to see what their often-misguided Government is up to next.

What’s behind these seemingly shocking statements? Canada, under the guise of democracy, is perpetrating International Sovereignty rights abuses against some of its male citizens by having child support orders placed against them … fully knowing that these men are not the paternal parents of the children.

Further, these child support orders can be turned on and off at the whim of a Judge or Master. Not only that, but more than one male can be made to pay child support – the paternal father and SEVERAL stepfathers as the case may be -- if any of the stepfathers decide to separate or divorce. This is a clear abuse of an individual’s civil rights … and for that matter, it is unconstitutional. To have more than one individual, other than the natural father, pay child support is nothing more than a government-backed racket for women.

How can this occur? Canada's Constitution is not a single document as in the United States. It is made up of acts of the British and Canadian Parliaments, as well as legislation, judicial decisions, and agreements between the federal and provincial governments. Therefore, with this multilateral judicial framework, the Canadian government easily can abuse the civil rights of its populace.

Share Your Struggles

This site is dedicated to fighting child support orders placed against no parental individuals and abusive alimony payments not in conformity with reasonable regard for an individual’s ability to pay. This website was created to discuss and take international legal action against countries that allow lawmakers to abuse their powers. The editor of this site believes the world should know how Canada’s laws abuse the civil and human rights of many individuals.

It is also the intent of this website to list rights abuses by corporations. In addition, individual cases will be listed on this web site if information is available.

If you are experiencing or know of similar abuse, please contact the editor@civilrightsblog.org for possible posting of the information to this web site.

O Canada!: Violating the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

Every day since its signing, Canada violates the human rights treaty agreement it signed at the United Nations. You don't have to go to Nicaragua or Uganda to see civil rights abuses … they occur every day in Canada … in particular, denying passports to males who refuse to pay child support for children that are not their paternal children.

See what Canada violates by reviewing the highlighted sections of the “UN Declaration of Human Rights” link above. Summarized here, key items include:

· Passport Seizure for nonpayment of child support …even when the children aren't your own.

· Social Security seizure for nonpayment of child support … even when the children aren't your own.

Only in Canada is child support for non-parental children forced onto males.

No Help from Hague

The Hague Conference on Private International Law -- at one time a bastion of protection for human and civil rights abuses -- will not review child support and family maintenance abuses by countries. Neither will the Supreme Court of the United States. Is this because those revered institutions know the abuses exist and they don’t want to find countries and themselves in contempt of civil rights? The only thing the Hague is interested in is how countries can enforce each others’ maintenance obligations. Does the end, in this case, justify the means? You decide … visit the Hague website at The Hague.

Illegal, Abusive, Court-Directed Power in Canada

Described in the link above is a perfect example of illegal, abusive, court-directed power: Justice Canada’s abuse with the help of the British Columbia courts. Justice Canada has changed what once was a democracy to a prime example of socialism or communism. Just because the system makes it legal does not necessarily make it moral!

A perfect example of constitutionality and civil rights abuses against a male in Canada is the case of JOANNE GRACE HILTON aka JOANNE GRACE KEDDY of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada … with the help of the British Columbia Supreme Court. In this case, a non-paternal parent is being persecuted internationally to support another man's child. In addition, the non-paternal parent also has had alimony imposed at a rate equivalent to five times more than he earned at the time of the judgment!

O Canada!: A Throwback to Totalitarianism

Not since 1935 and the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler has a country created family laws in the name of justice that circumvent and give powers of Justice Canada to the provinces and then to government enforcement branches.

After creating these family laws, a Gestapo – also know as Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP) unit -- is formed, with unlimited powers to seize assets of private individuals without further hearing. These individuals are men that are not the paternal father of children, either by birth or through adoption. The actual father may be paying child support – as perhaps he should -- but a Judge or Master also can order the stepfather, or event stepfathers, to pay … and pay more than the paternal father!

All of the fancy words of constitutionality contained in Canada’s United Nations human rights treaty mean nothing to Justice Canada and its enforcement branches. Even the indirect threat of death is used by the enforcement branches in an attempt to collect child support for non-parental children. If an individual does this to another individual, it is called extortion. In Canada, however, it is legal if the government does it!

O Canada!: Wake Up

O Canada, wake up before it is too late … you have screamed of human rights abuses in Africa but in your own country you turn a deaf ear to similar misbehavior.

Justice Canada says it’s being done for the children but it appears to be more like a play for ultimate power OVER the people – as opposed to the more democratic “power TO the people” -- and nothing else.

Protect Yourself: Know Who You Are!

Both the Supreme Court and the Provincial (Family) Court can -- one might say WILL -- make orders for child support under the Family Relations Act of divorced or separated stepparents … whether these individuals were married or living common-law.

Definitions play an important role in determining eligibility and responsibility (so says Justice Canada) for child support under the Family Relations Act, just as they do under the Divorce Act. Section 88 of the Family Relations Act states that each parent of a child is responsible for the support of that child, and s. 1(1) defines a "child" and a "parent" as follows:

-- "Child" means a person under the age of 19 years
-- "Parent" includes:
-- (a) a guardian or guardian of the person of a child, or
-- (b) a stepparent of a child if
-- (i) the stepparent contributed to the support and maintenance of the child for at least one year.

Legal Racketeers

In addition to the potential to receive child support from multiple males – spouses and who knows how many ex-spouses -- the pay-per-child racket seems to be catching on even more these days!

The most recently elected Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, successfully ran on a political platform that included a Canadian federal government payment of $100 a month per child to mothers of children six years old or less. With this kind of incentive, can a population boom be far behind? Let potential spouses beware!

How Idiotic is Canadian Parliament and Legal system or the new social security for women only. "O Canada" please wake up before its to late. Click here to see.

SPOUSAL SUPPORT OR ALIMONY IN CANADA (The new social security for women only or why we hate men.)

Stats Canada's official view on child support for children of the marriage-non biological parents.

Subject: Child support orders against non biological fathers.

Question:
To whom it may concern at Stats Canada.

As you are aware Canada as most countries have child support orders that are issued by various court in Canada.

We are trying to establish a breakdown of those #'s by how many child support orders have been issued in Canada against non-biological parents, eg: children of the marriage- stepparents versus biological parents.

If this information is not disseminated or available can you advise as to why it isn't.

Answer:

Thank you for contacting Statistics Canada.

In regard to your request on orders on children of the marriage-non biological fathers, we have contacted the division that oversees this subject matter and they have provided the following information:

"We have consulted our senior analyst for the Child Support and Maintenance Enforcement Survey and unfortunately, the our survey does not collect the variables - step parent, or biological parent. When a survey is being developed, consultations take place with all of our partners in the provinces and territories and set data requirements are established following these consultations. The step-parent or biological parent was not brought forth as a requirement in the provincial/territorial/federal consultations.

However, remains that some provinces might have a need for this type of info and will retain this variable and store the information while others may not have any need for this variable so it is not document nor stored electronically. Are you interested in a particular province, if so, we have the contact name of the Director of each provincial/territorial program which I can share with you. Please advise".

If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to contact us at info stats@statcan.ca or at 1 800 263 1136.

Regards,

Statistics Canada | Statistique Canada
National Contact Centre | Centre national de contact
Client Services Division | Division des services à la clientèle
R.H. Coats Building 1 W | Immeuble R.-H.-Coats 1 O
100 Tunney's Pasture Driveway | 100, promenade du Pré Tunney | Ottawa, ON, K1A 0T6
613-951-8116 | toll free/sans frais 1-800-263-1136 (Canada and/et USA)
facsimile / télécopieur 613-951-0581 or/ou 1-877-267-4369
TTY / ATS 800-363-7629
infostats@statcan.gc.ca
www.statcan.ca
Government of Canada | Government du Canada



The names of individuals falsifying records and then perjuring themselves at FMEP of British Columbia are CATHI BASHI, Enforcement Manager, and DIANE COURSER, a commissioner for taking affidavits for the British Columbia FMEP. For the rest of the story, visit Illegal, Abusive, Court-Directed Power in Canada



Statistics Canada Child and Spousal Support:
Maintenance Enforcement Survey Statistics 2000-2005

This survey is so flawed and unrealistic that it only goes to show that a government such as Canada would create employment to prepare this type of report.

There are perhaps only a few interesting points that have come out of this survey and I will attempt to post them and some appropriate unanswered questions.

1) Of the 39,783 cases in British Columbia, 97% are male payers.
2) Of the 39,783 cases in British Columbia, only 3% are female payers.
3) Of the 39,783 cases in British Columbia, 1% are listed as “other”.

Unfortunately, after the above numbers, additional statistics mean less or are completely inaccurate in the report.

Of all the cases in British Columbia, 94% of the FMEP caseload involves children.


The question, then, is of all those cases how many are “children of the marriage” and not paternal children?

The next question is, how many males are paying child support for the same child?

There is also a major error Statistics Canada misreports. It states that British Columbia is an opt-in province for enforcement. This is incorrect. The truth is that if you receive any social assistance or the payer is in arrears, then you are automatically enrolled in FMEP enforcement cases in British Columbia.

Statistics Canada, as usual, produces useless and incorrect information.

Question: How many of the child support cases handled by FMEP are for children that have more than one order against a male for payment of child support? In Canada, many men have and will be court-ordered to pay child support for the same child whether the paternal parent or not. So again, the statistics are skewed. Naturally, Canada will not divulge this information for fear of having the United Nations review them for human rights abuses on the issue.

It is the Editor’s opinion that ordering a nonpaternal parent, as well as the paternal parent, to pay child support at the same time is illegal and a direct violation of civil and human rights.




Can this happen in the USA? Can Child support be ordered against a non-biological father in the US? Well click here to find out how this nightmare is starting to unravel even in the US.

Remember the intentions may be good but the fallout will eventually allow for child support scams against men in the US as is the case in Canada.

To contribute to or comment about the content of this site, contact the editor at editor@civilrightsblog.org.

http://civilrightsblog.org