Course or Seminar Category: Family Law

Trusts

A trust is a relationship in which one person (the trustee) holds property for the benefit of another person(s) (the beneficiary(ies)) or for a charitable purpose. Trusts arise in a wide variety of contexts including corporate / commercial transactions, estate planning (gifting property on death or prior to death), social justice pursuits through charitable trusts and litigation involving property disputes. This course will provide a survey of key issues relating to trusts and trustees. The topics to be covered include: the juridical nature of the trust as a distinctive legal relationship, the reasons for which trusts are established (or come into existence by operation of law), the means by which trusts are established, the different species of trusts, including express trusts, purpose trusts, constructive trusts and resulting trusts, and issues relating to trustee duties.

The material for this course will be delivered in an lecture format. All assigned readings will be supplemented by detailed PowerPoint materials. These materials are not cryptic bullet point summaries of the readings. Instead, they are carefully prepared to bring greater context, organization and coherent explanation to assigned readings. All PowerPoint materials follow a disciplined, consistent and orderly format, breaking materials down by topic and sub-topic. The verbally delivered lecture content tracks very closely with the PowerPoint materials, adding further explanation, context and debate to these materials. If students scrutinize the readings, digest the supplementary PowerPoint materials and participate in lectures, they will be equipped to succeed in the course.

Trusts

Trust law is an important legal discipline in its own right; however, as trusts can appear in other areas of law, including family law, corporate law, real estate, and estate planning and litigation, having a foundational knowledge of trusts can be of assistance to a lawyer no matter what area of law they practice. This course seeks to provide an understanding not only of what a trust is and how a trust is created, but also explore the legal relationship between the trustee, the beneficiary, and the property that is held in trust. The topics to be covered include the legal nature of trusts and how they are created, the reasons why trusts are created or come into existence by operation of law, the various kinds of trusts, including express trusts, purpose trusts, constructive trusts, and resulting trusts, as well as the legal relationship between the trustee and the beneficiaries, and the corresponding duties of the trustee and the rights the beneficiaries may exercise. The real-world use of trusts, and the implications and intersectionality of trusts with other areas of law, will be covered if time permits.

Family Law I

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.

Immigration Law

This course begins with an overview of the Canadian immigration system and international migration patterns. The basic features of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Regulations will then be discussed including: temporary residence, family sponsorship, economic immigration, humanitarian applications, removal and inadmissibility. Embedded in this discussion will be an overview of how immigration decision-making takes place and the reviewability of immigration administrative decisions. A portion of the course will be devoted to looking at current topics in immigration law.

Family Law I

The course is intended to provide an introduction to the legal regulation of the family in Canadian and provincial law. The course is divided into six sections in order to facilitate an examination of the creation of the family unit, the regulation of the ongoing family, and the problems of family breakdown.

The first three classes present an introduction to various definitions of the family and provides relevant sociological and demographic context to the range of viable definitions. An overview of the seminal issues and tensions in family law will be canvassed. The introductory materials also cover the constitutional dimensions of family law.

The introductory materials are followed by a series of classes on the creation of the family. Several weeks of classes will cover adult relationship formation (including marriage) and the creation of parent-child relationships including adoption and reproductive technologies.

This is followed by a series of classes on the dissolution of the family. It is in this section that students will be exposed to the technicalities of divorce, along with topics such as the private ordering of dissolution (via mechanisms such as contract, mediation, and collaborative lawyering).

The fifth section covers the consequences of dissolution for adults by an examination of property division on dissolution, dealings with the matrimonial home, and spousal support.

The sixth and final section of the course deals with the consequences of family dissolution for children and covers issues such as custody and access, and child support.

In examining the rights and responsibilities of family members, we will explore questions such as: What is a family? What is a spouse? What is a parent? The answers to these questions are no longer as settled as they once seemed. We will consider the law’s answer to these questions, and the extent to which the legal regulation of the family is responding to changing and diverse family forms. Attention will be given to the issues of gender, race and class.

The course will be taught from a critical and policy-oriented perspective. The course emphasizes the role of law in defining and enforcing family arrangements, and the rights and responsibilities of family members. The course pays particular attention to law reform and policy choices in the legal regulation of the family in Ontario. The objective of the course is to provide a social, political and economic context within which legislative policies and judicial approaches can be understood and critically evaluated.

Taxation Law

This is not an accounting course. Neither is it a course singularly concerned with public finance. While income tax law is unavoidably concerned with public finance and tax accounting, there is so much more to it. The determinations of what is “income”, who is a “taxpayer”, which taxpayers pay which rates of income tax and the scope of tax deductions / credits carry profound socioeconomic implications. This course provides an introductory survey of income tax taking up the policy and technical dimensions of income tax with a central emphasis on the taxation of individuals. The course imparts knowledge relevant to core income tax concepts, financial literacy, recurring political debates (which often involve questions of taxation) and strategies for working within a complex statute.

The material for this course will be delivered in an lecture format. All assigned readings will be supplemented by detailed PowerPoint materials. These materials are not cryptic bullet point summaries of the readings. Instead, they are carefully prepared to bring greater context, organization and coherent explanation to assigned readings. All PowerPoint materials follow a disciplined, consistent and orderly format, breaking materials down by topic and sub-topic. The verbally delivered lecture content tracks very closely with the PowerPoint materials, adding further explanation, context and debate to these materials. If students scrutinize the readings, digest the supplementary PowerPoint materials and participate in lectures, they will be equipped to succeed in the course.

Taxation Law

Taxation Law is the foundational course in tax. It is one of the highly recommended courses for
students at Osgoode. It is intended for students who find tax issues intriguing or want to develop a stronger understanding of tax. It is also for those who are interested in the many substantive areas of law which invariably intersect with tax.

The course is a survey of the federal income tax system, with a focus on the taxation of individuals. Students will learn about the general framework of the Income Tax Act, come to appreciate the underlying principles and policies of the system, and develop statutory interpretation skills that will serve them well in practice.

Students are expected to prepare for classes by completing the assigned readings and reflecting on them. The amount of readings for the course is modest. Attendance is required.

The main reading material for the course is Li, Magee and Wilkie, Principles of Canadian Income Tax Law (10th edition). Students will have access to an electronic copy of this book. They may also obtain a hard copy from the publisher (Thomson Reuters) or the York University Library.

Wills and Estates

A basic and fundamental course in the law of Wills and Estates, including: an examination of will planning and drafting; consequences of not having a will; steps involved in the administration of an estate; the impact of legislation dealing with basic income tax issues, matrimonial entitlement, and the support of dependants; mental incapacity issues and the appointment of substitute decision-makers for incapable persons; and the resolution of estates disputes, including a review of available alternative dispute resolution procedures.

Wills and Estates

The Canadian population is aging with an unprecedented intergenerational transfer of wealth now underway. Incapacity and estate planning and estate administration are within a growing area of legal practice. Overview of topics to be covered:
– appointment and role of substitute decision makers during incapacity
– formal validity of a Will
– mental capacity to make a Will and do other estate planning transactions
– various limitations to making a Will and possible challenges to beneficiary entitlement
– property passing on death outside the estate through joint ownership or designation of beneficiaries on life insurance and registered products
– dying without a Will and devolution of property passing through the estate
– steps involved in the administration of an estate
– impact of estate administration tax as different from income tax arising on death
– spousal property rights on death and the support of the deceased’s dependants
– estate lawyer’s duties to a client, including under the Rules of Professional Conduct
– some tools to protect the estate plan from legal challenge

Refugee Law

Refugee protection is in a perpetual state of crisis, both domestically and abroad. Many refugee law practitioners and scholars argue that states are retrenching from their duty to provide refugees with the protection to which they are entitled under international law. At the same time, some government actors, media figures and civil society groups contend that existing refugee determination processes are excessively generous and are subject to widespread “abuse” by economically motivated migrants. Still others suggest that refugee protection regimes either distract from or help reinforce a deeper problematic: control over migration that serves to entrench global disparities in income, wealth and security.

This course offers students an opportunity to engage critically with these and other debates over refugee law at the level of theory, policy and practice. This critical engagement will occur through a collaborative examination of refugee law instruments, institutions and jurisprudence in international and domestic forums, with a heavy emphasis on Canada.

The course will be offered through online modules, lectures and class discussions. The course will also include several weeks of student-led teaching in the second half of the term. There will be two written assignments. The course requires consistent and active student participation throughout the term, including participation in evaluated group work. There is no final exam or final paper. The course, including all evaluated work, will be complete by the final day of class.

Note that the course will be offered in a hybrid remote/in-person format (hyflex). Students can attend classes either on campus or remotely via Zoom.