Family Law

Some might argue that because of the closeness forged into families, the matters concerning its members can become explosive and more difficult to manage. When legal issues are thrown into the mix, family matters may become the cause of even more headaches.

During such tumultuous times in the family, JCA Law offers to be the objective eye that will look over your situation and give you sound, professional advice so that you can arrive at a reasonable conclusion. JCA Law strives to help you disentangle the convoluted webs of family law, including:

  • Spousal support
  • Child support and child custody
  • Parenting time
  • Property division

What is Custody?

We have four (4) different types of custody which include:

Sole Custody
Joint Custody
Shared Custody
Split Custody

SOLE CUSTODY

If you have the sole custody, it means you have the full responsibilities and legal rights to make major decisions about your child or children. You have the sole custody and the other parent may or may not has the access or visitation rights.

JOINT CUSTODY

In joint custody situations, you both have input into major decisions affecting your kids, including health, education, and religion. The residence and visitation arrangements for your children are agreed by both of you.
This type of custody works best where there are little or not a serious conflict between both parents. Under the child support guidelines

SHARED CUSTODY

The Joint Custody is a shared-responsibilities affecting your children while the Shared Custody is not relevant when it comes to decision-making, but significantly to determine child support. How much time does your child spend between the two of you?

In Canada, we consider shared physical custody if the physical care of a child is “not less than 40% of the time”. Family law lawyers sometimes refer to this as the “40% threshold”. It is only after a parent has crossed the 40% threshold that he or she can invoke section 9 of the Child Support Guidelines. This is not calculated monthly but on a yearly basis.

The court has the discretion or decision to count time-based on family’s situation or case.

SPLIT CUSTODY

Split Custody is another type of custody arrangement. It is applicable when you have more than one child together.