Mississauga Family Lawyer
Zagazeta Garcia Lawyers, LLP provides sound legal advice to help clients understand their rights and responsibilities under Ontario family law. Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision regarding your marriage contract, separation agreement, parenting agreement, divorce or other family law matter. Our Mississauga family lawyers will effectively negotiate on your behalf to help you resolve your family law matter in the most time-efficient and cost-efficient manner. Call our office in Mississauga for assistance with any of the following:
Marriage Contracts – Ontario family law grants rights to married couples in property, including the matrimonial home, as well as rights to spousal support and child support. Zagazeta Garcia Lawyers can negotiate, draft or review a marriage contract that meets your needs and addresses the matters most important to you as you enter marriage. Marriage contracts can be created before marriage or later during marriage as well to address needs or concerns which later arise.
Cohabitation Contracts – If you are not married but living together in a common law relationship, a cohabitation agreement can help you protect important rights while spelling out important details about your relationship. For instance, a cohabitation contract can address who owns certain property and how property will be divided if the relationship ends, including who will stay in the home. A cohabitation agreement can also address whether support will be paid from one partner to the other, including how much and for how long. Issues of child custody and access, however, cannot be decided in advance through a cohabitation agreement.
Our lawyers can help you negotiate a cohabitation contract with your partner. Our team can draft the agreement or review an agreement drawn up by another lawyer, to make sure it is valid, enforceable and accomplishes your goals. We are also available for assistance in the event you or your partner are seeking a change to an existing cohabitation agreement.
Separation Agreements – If you have separated and do not believe you will be getting back together, signing a written separation agreement is an effective way to make important decisions in a legally binding and enforceable way. The separation agreement can spell out who stays in the home, who takes care of kids, who pays family debts, who pays support and how much, how property is divided, and more.
A properly drafted separation agreement that is signed and witnessed is legally binding, and a party could not change it without agreement from the other party or going to court. We can help you negotiate, mediate or litigate a separation agreement and help ensure that it is based on a complete and accurate disclosure of the other party’s financial affairs.
Divorce – Zagazeta Garcia Lawyers represents clients in contested and uncontested divorces in Mississauga, Brampton, Milton, Oakville, Toronto, and surrounding GTA area. Whether collaborating on an agreement with your spouse or litigating high-conflict issues in court, we work to protect your rights and see that your interests are well-represented in all the major issues in your divorce, including child custody, access and the parenting plan; child support; spousal support; and property division and equalization.
Variation of Prior Orders and Agreements – Court orders related to child and spousal support and child custody may later be modified if a material change can be shown. Circumstances to modify support may include a change in income, retirement, remarriage, birth of a child, disability or other material changes. Likewise, an Ontario family court can order a variation in child support upon a showing of changed circumstances in accordance with the Ontario child support guidelines. These matters must be proven in court and may be contested by the party resisting a proposed change.
Restraining Orders – The family court is empowered to impose restraining orders to protect a person and the children in his or her custody from a threat of violence from a former spouse or cohabitation partner. Restraining orders may order no contact very broadly, or they can be very specific regarding where a person can and cannot be. An individual subject to a restraining order can be arrested for violating the order. A person seeking a restraining order must be able to prove the facts justifying an order, and the other party may challenge those facts in court.
Mobility Rights – Whether you can relocate with your child depends on whether the move would affect your co-parent’s access. If it would, you either need agreement from the other parent or a court order varying access. It lies within the discretion of the court whether to allow relocation. There must be a material change in circumstances that affects the child or the parent’s ability to meet the child’s needs, and the court looks at a number of factors to determine whether the move would be in the best interest of the child.
Grandparents’ Rights – After a divorce or the death of a spouse, a custodial parent may try to restrict a set of grandparents from having access to their grandchild. While courts generally will not interfere with the rights of parents to make decisions on how to raise their children, courts do tend to recognize the benefit to children of having a relationship with their grandparents. Grandparents may seek custody or access to their grandchildren in appropriate situations, and courts will consider a number of factors to determine whether the grandparents’ request should be honored and enforced.
Experienced Mississauga Family Lawyers Here to Help You
Zagazeta Garcia Lawyers LLP are available to assist in any family law matter in Mississauga, Brampton, Milton, Oakville, Toronto, and surrounding GTA area, including divorce, adoptions and more. Our experienced Mississauga family lawyers handle mediation, trials and appeals in the Family Court of the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Justice and in private settlement talks, negotiation, collaborative family law, mediation and arbitration. Call our office in Mississauga at 905-232-0398 for a free consultation, and find out how we can help with your family law needs.
