Family Law

Whatever your challenge and however complex or simple, we realize that it is the most pressing and important thing in your life. From our family at McCarthy Hansen & Company LLP to yours, we are here to help.

info@mccarthyco.ca
416-862-6226
1-844-862-6226 (Toll free)
416-862-9001
Service Options

Family Law is What We Do.

At McCarthy Hansen & Company LLP we recognize your need for a legal team with the ability to deliver unparalleled guidance and advocacy. We practise before all courts in the Province of Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada and represent clients in mediation and arbitration proceedings.

Every case, every family, is unique and we are ready to put our breadth of experience and knowledge at your service. We represent and advise clients on all areas of family law, including issues related to divorce, custody and access, spousal and child support, mobility matters, division of property, separation agreements, domestic contracts, religious marriage contracts, adoption, and cross-border family law issues.

We frequently work on matters that involve the highly complex intersection of family law and other areas of law, including business, tax, trust and estate matters and criminal proceedings. That means working closely with other lawyers, valuators and accountants when needed.

Our lawyers also represent children and parents in domestic and child protection matters.

We are frequently called on by family law counsel in other jurisdictions to provide opinions as to the impact of Canadian law in international proceedings.

We are Trial Lawyers.

We pride ourselves in resolving family law disputes quickly and cost-effectively. Most often that means not using resources in court. However, our extensive experience in court allows us a helpful perspective in moving matters forward in a pragmatic, resolute manner. When court is inevitable, we rely on our strength and experience and you can too. Our lawyers have maintained an active litigation practice for almost two decades.

HNW Advisory / Family Office Support

The goal of family offices and other HNW advisors is often intertwined with the complexities of family law. The preservation of wealth across generations is often impacted by unexpected and unintended breakdowns of family structures. Family offices, their advisors and counsel, are increasingly attuned to the benefits of an early understanding of the family law implications in long-term intergenerational wealth planning. In addition to assisting with domestic/marriage contracts (including religious marriage contracts), our firm has significant experience assisting family offices understand risk and employ practical strategies for risk mitigation and long-term planning.

International

Although we practice exclusively before the courts of Canada, we are often called upon by counsel around the world to provide support and opinions with respect to Ontario/Canadian law, including as it relates to family relocations and complex child/custody matters. Our lawyers also have significant experience dealing with matters pursuant to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. We are proud members of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and can assist with the coordination and management of multi-jurisdictional disputes.

At the Forefront of Appellate and Charter Litigation.

The lawyers of MHC have significant experience in Charter litigation, particularly in cases involving progressive equality rights. MHC lawyers have been at the forefront of changing family law to respect the diversity of families. Our team has been lead counsel in the following historic Charter cases:

Fees and Services

We care deeply about the family justice system, and we believe it should be accessible to you.

We offer a variety of services and want to help you choose a cost-effective approach that works for you. Throughout our work with you, we will transparently discuss the expected cost of legal services and the options that are available to you.

Traditional Retainer
When you enter into a retainer agreement with our firm, we will help you with every step of the legal process, from communications and preparation of disclosure to representation in court. We will discuss a range of dispute resolution processes with you, such as mediation and arbitration. We use a team approach so that we can offer you assistance from more senior lawyers, junior lawyers, and law clerks to help you through the process as cost-effectively as possible.

As part of our commitment to transparency about fees, if your matter is headed to a trial or an appeal, we will talk with you about a detailed budget for the expected work involved, and a payment plan. Discussions about fees form an important part of our preparation for litigation and help you to assess whether proceeding to litigation is the right step for you.

Custom Retainer and Fee Agreements
We will offer a limited scope retainer in situations where a traditional retainer is not appropriate or affordable for you, which allows us to help you with discrete tasks such as the preparation of court documents, limited court appearances, or consultations with you about particular steps in litigation.  With limited scope assistance, you may be able to handle the whole case yourself, except for a few legal issues where a lawyer can help you. We will talk with you about the specific assistance that we can offer in your particular case.

In some cases, people hire us to prepare an opinion about their options or their chances of success in litigation, or to act for them in relation to a particular task, and we are able to offer payment of a flat rate for this work rather than billing on an hourly basis.

When you come in for an initial consultation, you will pay an hourly rate for a meeting with one of our lawyers. This step alone will provide you with valuable information and strategic advice about how you can approach your family law issue.

Law Clerks
We work with very experienced law clerks. They are trained professionals who share similar skills with paralegals, and have a wealth of experience with the family law system. Law clerks are supervised by lawyers at the firm, and can assist you with preparing your disclosure, drafting and filing court documents, preparing support calculations, and many other aspects of your file.

Other Initiatives
We are committed to creating a family justice system that is accessible for anyone who needs it. Our lawyers actively participate in law reform initiatives and other advocacy for affordable, accessible, access to justice.

We do a variety of legal work for free (“pro bono”) where we believe it is necessary to advance equality issues or assist low-income litigants. Lawyers at our office helped to found, and continue to administer pro bono programs, including pro bono family law appeal and child protection appeal projects.