Family Law Assistance

Family law, explained in your own language

Separation, divorce, child support, parenting arrangements. The situation is hard enough without the paperwork being in a language you are still learning. I prepare and explain the documents, in Russian or English — and I say plainly where a lawyer is needed instead.

Call now · 416-545-9482 Book an appointment

Assistance with documents and process — not representation in Family Court. Fast appointments available · We speak Russian & English

What’s covered

Where I can help

Family matters in Ontario run on documents: applications, financial statements, sworn affidavits, agreements. Getting those right — complete, consistent and properly sworn — is most of the work, and it is the part I do.

01 Divorce: A simple, uncontested divorce in Ontario is largely a documents process: the application, your marriage certificate, proof of service, and an affidavit at the end. I help you assemble it, complete the forms and keep the sequence straight, so it doesn’t come back rejected over a missing date or an unsworn page.
02 Child support: Support is calculated from the Federal Child Support Guidelines — a published table based on the paying parent’s income and the number of children. I can walk you through the table, help gather the income disclosure the process requires, and put the figures into the right forms. Special and extraordinary expenses — childcare, medical costs, activities — sit outside the table and are where most disagreements start.
03 Parenting arrangements: Since 2021 the law calls this decision-making responsibility and parenting time rather than custody and access. The words changed; the questions didn’t — who decides, where the children live, and when they see each parent. I help set out what has been agreed in the form the process expects, and explain how that process works. Ontario decides these on the best interests of the child: that is the statutory test, not a slogan.
04 Separation agreements: A written agreement between separating partners covering property, support and parenting. In Ontario a domestic contract has to be in writing, signed by both parties and witnessed. I can help you put down in writing what the two of you have already agreed, arrange the signing, witness and notarise the signatures, and set the document out in both languages where that is what it takes for both sides to understand it. Independent legal advice — each of you with your own lawyer — is what makes an agreement hard to challenge later, and I will say so every time.
05 Documents from abroad: Marriage, birth and divorce certificates from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and elsewhere usually need a certified translation, and sometimes further authentication, before an Ontario process will accept them. I read the originals, commission the translator’s affidavit and certify the copies — so nothing is lost between the two languages.

None of the above is legal advice about your rights. It is help with documents, forms and process — plus an honest answer about when that is not enough.

How it works

How a family matter starts here

The first conversation is the important one. It is where we work out whether this is a paperwork problem or a lawyer problem.

Step 01

A call, in your language

Tell me what has happened and what documents you have already received. No forms and no jargon — this is the part where you just talk.
Step 02

An honest scope call

We work out what you actually need: documents you can complete with help, an administrative step, or a family lawyer. If it is the last one, you hear it on the first call — not after three appointments.
Step 03

Documents prepared and checked

Applications, financial statements, affidavits, supporting certificates and translations — completed, consistent with one another, and checked against what the process requires.
Step 04

Signed, sworn and filed

Signatures witnessed, affidavits commissioned, certified copies made. You are told what goes where, in what order, and what happens next.

Before you come

What to bring

Bring more than you think you need. In family matters, the dates and the paperwork are the matter.

Photo identification.
Your marriage certificate — the original where you have it. A certificate issued outside Canada will usually need a certified translation.
The date of separation. You can be separated while still living in the same home, so bring the date you remember and anything that helps fix it.
The children’s full names and dates of birth.
Income information, if support is involved: your most recent notice of assessment, recent pay statements, and the same for the other parent if you have it.
Any existing court order, agreement or correspondence from a court.
Everything you have received from the other side — including the envelope. Dates of service matter.

If a document is in Russian or Ukrainian, bring the original anyway. I read it, and we deal with the translation properly.

Scope

What I can and can’t do in a family matter

Ontario draws a hard line here, and it is worth being clear about before you spend any money. Licensed paralegals do not appear in Family Court — that work belongs to lawyers. Saying so plainly is the point of this page.

What I can do

Prepare, complete and organise family-law documents and forms.
Explain the process, the forms and the vocabulary — in Russian or English.
Commission affidavits, witness signatures and certify copies as a notary public.
Help with uncontested and administrative steps, where no court appearance is needed.
Handle foreign documents: certified copies, and the translator’s affidavit that goes with a certified translation.

What I can’t do

Represent you in Family Court or in the Superior Court of Justice. In Ontario that is a lawyer’s work, and a paralegal who tells you otherwise is telling you something untrue.
Advise you on your legal rights, or tell you what you should accept in a settlement.
Act for both partners in the same matter.
Promise an outcome. Nobody honest can.

Where your matter needs a lawyer you will be told early, and pointed in the right direction rather than left to search.

Licensed and in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario, and a commissioned Notary Public for Ontario.

Questions

Common questions about family matters

Can you represent me in family court?

No. Family Court in Ontario is a lawyer’s work; licensed paralegals are not permitted to appear there. What I can do is prepare and explain the documents, handle the notarial side, and tell you clearly when you need a lawyer.

How long does an uncontested divorce take?

That depends on the court’s schedule and on whether the paperwork is complete — and the paperwork is the part anyone can control. Note too that where the ground is separation, a divorce is not granted until you have been separated for one year, although the application can be started before that year is up.

How is child support worked out?

Under the Federal Child Support Guidelines: a published table based on the paying parent’s income and the number of children. On top of the table amount sit special or extraordinary expenses — childcare, medical costs, activities — shared in proportion to income. Most arguments are about income disclosure and about that second category.

Do we each need our own lawyer for a separation agreement?

The law does not require it. But independent legal advice — each partner with their own lawyer — is the single thing that best protects an agreement from being set aside later. I recommend it every time, even though it is not work I do.

Our documents are from Russia or Ukraine. Does that complicate things?

It adds steps, not obstacles. Foreign certificates generally need a certified translation with the translator’s sworn affidavit, and sometimes further authentication. I read the originals, so nothing has to be guessed at.

Also here

The other things I do

Next step

Start with a conversation

Tell me what has happened, in your own language. If you need a lawyer, you will hear it on the first call.

416-545-9482 Ask a question

Not a law firm. Paralegal services are provided within the scope permitted by the Law Society of Ontario.