The online filing service for joint divorce applications Ontario.ca/familyclaims is expanding province-wide in November 2018

  • October 02, 2018

The Ministry of the Attorney General will be expanding the online filing service for joint divorce applications www.Ontario.ca/familyclaims province-wide in November 2018. Currently, this family service offering is only available in Brampton, Hamilton, Ottawa and Toronto.

The service enables users to file documents for a joint divorce application, which may also include claims for custody, access, child support and spousal support on consent. Users can pay court fees online securely by credit or debit card.

To further assist Ontarians with resolving their family law disputes, the ministry has partnered with Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) to develop Guided Pathways to Family Court Forms.

The Guided Pathways take users through a series of questions to help them complete their divorce forms correctly. Users’ answers are used to create the forms they need, which they can save or print. There is no cost to using the Guided Pathways.

“Guided Pathways are a new resource for lawyers serving people on an unbundled basis as well as for people who want to fill out court forms on their own,” said Julie Mathews, Executive Director of CLEO. “We are pleased to collaborate with MAG on this new access to justice service for family law.”

Currently, the online tool leads people through the forms they need to apply for simple and joint divorces. CLEO will be releasing additional pathways to help people complete forms on child support, custody, access and other issues in the coming months.

Joint divorce online filing and Guided Pathways join the online child support service, a tool that enables parents to set up and update child support payments without going to court, as complementary online services. These initiatives aim to strengthen the family justice system by making it easier to use.

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback about the services, please email the Ministry of the Attorney General at MAGinnovation@ontario.ca. Also, please feel free to share any concerns or thoughts about the services with us here at the OBA, at advocacy@oba.org.

Guided Pathways:

https://www.cleo.on.ca/en/projects/guided-pathways-family-court-forms

Online child support service:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/set-up-or-update-child-support-online