The course is intended to offer an overview of family law and to provide a foundation for later, more specialized seminars or research projects. It provides an introduction to some of the issues and problems relating to law and the family, focusing on three contexts: the creation of the family unit, the regulation of the ongoing family, and issues arising at family breakdown. Topics to be explored include marriage, reproduction, adoption, child care, family violence, child protection, divorce, property, support, domestic contracts, custody and access, and dispute resolution.
The course is taught from practical and a critical and policy-oriented perspective. The objective of the course is to learn how family law works in Ontario, and to under the social, political and economic context within which legislative policies and judicial approaches can be understood and assessed.
Method of Evaluation: A three hour exam worth 100%; or alternatively a three hour exam worth 50% and a paper worth 50%.