Burlington Divorce Lawyers

Compassionate & Experienced Divorce Lawyers

Divorce Lawyers
Burlington

Dedicated Divorce Representation for Families Who Need Help With Separation in Burlington

You moved into the spare room months ago. Maybe you have already moved out of your Burlington home. Now your spouse wants to talk about the house in Aldershot, who has the kids on school nights, and a pension neither of you has ever looked at closely.

A million questions are going through your mind. Right now, this one is top of mind: Who can help me settle the legal side of my divorce with minimum stress and expense?

At Amiri Family Law, we start by explaining what Ontario law provides and how to work towards results that protect your future. The decisions you make now can affect you for years to come. As a seasoned Burlington divorce lawyer, Nima Amiri can help you decide on the main financial, parenting, and property matters.

Nima focuses on helping spouses resolve what they can agree on early. Many matters can be settled through negotiation and collaboration. Mediation and arbitration are other options. Going to court should be necessary only for problems that truly require a judge’s intervention.

Nima can sit down with you early on and talk through the main matters. Much of the stress in a divorce comes from not knowing what happens next. That is the part he can help you fix from the first meeting. The rest will be addressed during the divorce process.

The federal Divorce Act governs divorce in Canada. Before a judge will grant a divorce, you must meet a few basic rules:

• You or your spouse must have lived in Ontario for at least one year before the case starts;
• The marriage must have broken down; most people show this by living apart for one year, but adultery or cruelty can also prove the marriage has broken down; and
• The court must also see a reasonable child support plan before it grants the divorce.

The court won’t grant a divorce without a marriage certificate or a reason that one can’t be obtained. Burlington residents married in Ontario can order a copy through ServiceOntario. Once a judge signs the order, the divorce takes effect 31 days later.

The path your case takes depends on how much you and your spouse already agree on. The less you fight over, the faster and cheaper the process tends to be.

Uncontested Divorce

Spouses who agree on everything can file a joint application as an uncontested divorce. No one is named as the respondent (the other side). A judge can grant the divorce based on sworn written statements. You don’t even need to attend court. We can prepare the correct papers, check them for gaps or errors, and file them for you.

Contested Divorce

In a contested divorce you and your spouse disagree on parenting, support, or property, the case follows a set of court steps. We can represent you at each step.

Each party must attend a Mandatory Information Program within 45 days of the case starting. Both sides then swear to full financial statements, meet with a judge at a case conference, and try again at a settlement conference. Only then will the court schedule a trial.

Burlington does have its own courthouse at 2021 Plains Road East. That’s the Ontario Court of Justice’s Criminal Court. It doesn’t hear family cases. Divorce hearings take place at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Milton Courthouse, 491 Steeles Avenue East. Only the Superior Court can grant a divorce or divide property.

This courthouse serves Halton Region, and Nima Amiri knows this location very well. The Ontario Court of Justice in the same building handles child and spousal support, but not divorce.

Often, the hardest part of a divorce is sorting out the rest of your family’s life. Each issue follows its own set of rules. That’s why many couples turn to a divorce lawyer for assistance.

Parenting Time and Decision-Making

During a divorce, parents must make important decisions about the child’s living arrangements, schooling, health, and religion. In Ontario, this is known as decision-making responsibility and parenting time rather than child custody. A judge who decides these matters must prioritize what is best for the child. A child’s safety and well-being always come first.

Child Support

Child support starts with a set table amount based on the paying parent’s income and the number of children. Parents may also share extra costs, such as braces, tutoring, or university. If each parent has the children at least 40% of the time, the court uses a different formula.

Spousal Support

Spousal support has no single fixed formula. Courts look at:

• How long you lived together,
• What role each of you played during the marriage, and
• Each spouse’s needs and means.

A judge will not raise or cut support to punish a spouse for misconduct in the marriage. We run the numbers early so you know what range to expect before you sit down to talk.

Property and the Family Home

Under Ontario law, the spouse with less growth in wealth during the marriage can claim half the difference between the two spouses’ gains. A divorce lawyer usually refers to this as an equalization payment. It can get complex, especially in long marriages involving many assets, including pensions.

Some things stay out of the math, such as a gift or inheritance you received during the marriage, as long as it is not the family home. Until the divorce, both spouses have an equal right to live in the family home, no matter whose name is on the title. During that time, neither spouse can sell or mortgage it without the other’s consent or a court order. If only one of you owns the home, the other’s right to live there ends at divorce unless a separation agreement or court order says otherwise.

Couples in Burlington sometimes miss a critical point: trying to complete your divorce too fast can put your share of the property at risk. Many people want the divorce order quickly, so they can move on or remarry. But once a judge grants the divorce, you have only two years to claim an equalization payment. That deadline can be even sooner, since the claim also expires six years after the date you separated.

It is easy to assume the money side can wait, then find the window has closed. The safer order is to sign a separation agreement first and file for divorce second. To count, that agreement must be in writing, signed by both of you, and witnessed.

Divorces are rarely as straightforward as first hoped. Even the simplest divorces involve important decisions, many documents, and specific procedural rules. The potential for disagreements and disputes is high.

Federal law expects lawyers to steer clients toward settling outside court when it is possible to do so. We also inform you about local services that could help your family, including the free services at the Milton courthouse, such as:

• The Family Law Information Centre, which gives free information on separation, divorce, and dispute resolution; and
• Family duty counsel, run by Legal Aid Ontario.

You and your spouse have a duty to try alternative dispute options wherever they make sense. We help you pick the approach that best fits your family:

• Negotiation. We talk directly with your spouse’s lawyer to reach terms you can accept.
• Mediation. A neutral third person helps you and your spouse work through the issues. We can advise you at each stage.
• Collaborative law. Both spouses and both lawyers agree to settle without going to court.
• Arbitration. We can represent you before a neutral arbitrator. For the decision to be enforceable in Ontario, each spouse must get independent legal advice before signing the arbitration agreement.
• Litigation. We take your case before a judge. This may be necessary if a spouse will not bargain in good faith or when safety is at stake.

Most families move between these options as their case changes. We adjust with you, so you never spend money on a fight you do not need.