Course content

    1. Cheryl Williams' Presentation

    2. Kerri Parslow's & Julie Tyas' Presentation

    3. Rachel Baron's Presentation

    4. Irina Koropenko's & Birute Luksenaite's Presentation

    5. Julie Layne's Presentation

    6. AJ Jakubowska's Presentation

    7. Carrie Heinzl's Presentation

    1. Cheryl Williams' Recording

    2. Kerri Parslow's & Julie Tyas' Recording

    3. Rachel Baron's Recording

    4. Irina Koropenko's & Birute Luksenaite's Recording

    5. Risa Ennis' Recording

    6. Julie Layne's Recording

    7. AJ Jakubowska's Recording

    8. Maxine Kerr's Recording

    9. Carrie Heinzl's Recording

    10. John Panagakos' Recording

About this course

  • $250.00
  • 8.5 CPD hours
  • September 23, 2019

Course Description

The following topics will be covered during this event:

1. Overview of the FLA, Completing Form 13.1, Treatment of Excluded and Gifted property, Defining Valuation Date and Treatment of the Matrimonial Home, Double-Dipping Issues

Speaker: Cheryl Williams, LL.B., LL.M. (ADR) of Williams Family Lawyers

2. How to Resolve a Separation or Divorce

Speakers: Kerri Parslow, LL.B. and Julie Tyas, LL.B. of Parslow Tyas Law LLP

3. Mediation of Family Law

Speaker: Rachel Baron, J.D., AccFM, FDRP Med.

4. Family Law Obligations in the Context of Estate Planning

Speakers: Dr. Irina V. Koropenko, PhD., CFP, CLU, TEP, CFDS, CDFA, CFBA and Birute Luksenaite, J.D., Principal at Portfolio Estate Law

5. The Emotional Side of Family Law Disputes

Speaker: Risa Ennis, B.A., AccFM (OAFM), M.A. of Risa Ennis Family Mediation and Counselling Services

6. Child and Spousal Support - The Basics and Common Issues

Speaker: Julie Layne, J.D. of Layne Family Law Professional Corporation

7. Family Law Buffet: 6 topics in manageable bites

  • The Family Responsibility Office and their involvement in a classic family law case
  • Disclosure obligations under the Child Support Guidelines (for both child and spousal support)
  • Onus in proving values in an NFP Statement
  • Variation versus review

Speaker: AJ Jakubowska,M.A., LL.B., Family Law Lawyer and Mediator

8. Marriage and Co-habitation Agreements, and the intersection of family trusts and family law

Speaker: Maxine Kerr, B.A., LL.B., M.B.A.

9. The Greek Chorus

This presentation is about the client who has the good, the bad and the ugly for cheerleaders who are egging them on throughout their process. Are they helpful or a hindrance? How can we use the Greek Chorus to help our clients over the finish line and provide an acceptable agreement to both parties?

Speakers: Carrie Heinzl, HBSc., CDFA of Fairmore Family Law Financial Solutions

10. Separation Mortgages

Speaker: John Panagakos, Founder of Separation Mortgages

Instructor(s)

Cheryl Suann Williams

Cheryl commenced work in the legal field in 1992 and earned a law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School in 1998 and a Masters in Law (Alternative Dispute Resolution) degree in 2019. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2000. She is also trained in Collaborative Law and has extensive mediation training.

Cheryl's long association with family law commenced in 1996 through her involvement with the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic assisting victims of physical and sexual violence; an intensive study in family law during law school; and articles at the Ministry of the Attorney General, Office of the Children's Lawyer.

Cheryl worked in reputable boutique family law firms in downtown Toronto and Markham before becoming the Principal of Williams Family Lawyers after the firm’s former partners each became judges of the Superior Court of Justice, Family Court. Since then, she has developed a practice in complex financial, property and support disputes from inception through to trials, mediations, arbitrations and the Court of Appeal. Her approach is to provide service to clients in a resolution-based, efficient, cost-effective, and compassionate manner.

Kerri Parslow

Kerri is a partner at Parslow Tyas Law LLP. She represents and advises clients on issues related to divorce, custody and access, child and spousal support, division of property, separation agreements, domestic contracts, and cross-border family law issues. Kerri has attended on all manner of court proceedings in the Province of Ontario. She is also trained as a mediator and collaborative practitioner, and is proficient in alternative dispute resolution methods. Kerri provides her clients with cost-effective and practical solutions to their family law disputes. Kerri has been a guest speaker on the prominent television show, Family Matters, with the Honourable Justice Harvey Brownstone. Kerri is a two-time graduate of Queen’s University, having received a B.A. (Hons) in 1998, and subsequently completing an LL.B. in 2004, where she received the Sabbath Prize in Criminal Law. She was called to the Bar in 2005 after completing her articles with a prominent international law firm in Toronto where she remained until 2008. Throughout this time, Kerri gained exposure to a broad range of commercial litigation work and was actively involved in several defence-side class action files. In 2008, Kerri relocated to Kingston, Ontario, and commenced employment as an associate in the Family Law Department of a prominent Kingston firm. Kerri returned to Toronto in 2010, joining a full-service firm in East York, where she remained until January 2017. While there, she practised family law exclusively, and was a partner in the family law group.

Julie Tyas

Julie is a partner at Parslow Tyas Law LLP. She has practised exclusively in the area of family law since her call to the Bar in 2007. Julie’s practice incorporates all aspects of family law, including separation and divorce, property division, custody and access, child and spousal support, marriage contracts, cohabitation agreements, and separation agreements. Julie attended law school at the University of Windsor after graduating with an Honours Psychology degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. While attending law school, Julie was fortunate to have gained invaluable practical experience working for a diverse group of lawyers in a variety of different legal fields. One of these practitioners was a family lawyer with a well-established family law practice in Windsor, Ontario. Through this experience, Julie realized that she wanted to practise family law upon being called to the Bar. Since becoming a lawyer, Julie has had the privilege of working with exceptional and experienced litigators but realized that many family law cases are not suitable for litigation. Therefore, in 2012, Julie received the requisite training to practise in the Collaborative Family Law process and has incorporated this aspect of family law into her practice since this time, along with other alternative dispute resolution processes such as Mediation/Arbitration. Julie has earned a reputation for being a practical and reasonable lawyer who moves matters forward quickly. She is proud of being able to assist her clients navigate their way through an emotionally and financially challenging time.

Rachel Baron

Rachel E. Baron B.A. J.D. AccFM, FDRP Med. is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, 1987. Rachel is a sole practitioner in Toronto, Ontario, practicing family law, with a particular focus on Marriage Contracts and Cohabitation Agreements, custody, support and property disputes. From 1993 to 2005, Rachel was an instructor for the Bar Admission Family Law course for Interviewing, Advocacy, Civil Procedure, Negotiation and Examiner of civil motions. Rachel was a member of the examination team for the Family Law Bar Admission Course, Law Society of Upper Canada from 2000 to 2005, for the Examination Team for the Barrister's and Solicitor's Examination Item Development Workshop, Law Society of Upper Canada, from 2004 to 2005, and for the writing and editing of the Bar Admission Reference Material on Divorce, Marriage and Annulment, from 2001 to 2005. Rachel was a regular speaker for the Family Information Session, Superior Court of Justice from 1999 to 2005. She has been a speaker at the Ontario Bar Association, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development, Ryerson University and the Institute of Law Clerks for Ontario. Rachel is a Family Law Mediator and received training at The Advocates Society Harvard Mediation Course in 1999. Rachel was appointed a Dispute Resolution Officer for the Superior Court of Justice in October 2003 and has mediated hundreds of case conferences and motions to change. In 2010, Rachel received her Certificate of Advanced Mediation from the University of Windsor Law School. In 2015, Rachel received her Accredited Family Mediator designation from the Ontario Association for Family Mediation. In 2017, Rachel received a certified specialist designation in mediation from the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario.

Irina Koropenko

Irina is a comprehensive Estate and Financial Planning professional working with individual and corporate clients. She provides advanced financial planning including tax, estate, retirement, and business planning. She prepares and runs educational seminars, training sessions, and tutorials in financial, tax and estate planning for advisors and clients. Irina holds several professional designations, among them the Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter, Trust and Estate Practitioner, Chartered Financial Divorce Specialist, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and is a member of both the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and the Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting. She is a Past President and currently sits on the board of the Estate Planning Council of Toronto. Irina also holds the Advanced Certificate in Family Business Advising from the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

Birute Luksenaite

Birute is a tax and estates lawyer with the firm Portfolio Estate Law in Toronto. She works with domestic and international clients providing estate and tax planning, estate administration, executor and trustee and other related legal services. She has a special interest in assisting with artists’ estates.

Birute earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Toronto and her law degree - at Queen’s University. She completed her articles at the Tax Court of Canada in 2011 and subsequently worked in various roles in tax end estate law in New York and Toronto. She is a member of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners and attends their Canada and Europe conferences. She also serves on the executive of the Ontario Bar Association’s Tax Law Section.

In 2019 Birute established Portfolio Estate Law boutique to provide exclusively estates-focused services to domestic and international clients in several languages.

Birute contributes to various publications and presentations on the topics of taxation and estates law.

Risa Ennis

Risa Ennis began her career, after being an at home mom for several years, as a Certified Parent Educator in 1997. It was very clear to her at that time from the voluminous requests by clients, struggling to co-parent with their divorced spouses, that mediation was the best way to significantly help these clients, especially in offering a non-adversarial mechanism to draft binding parenting plans.

So she became an Accredited Family Mediator in 2000.

Along with obtaining a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Counselling in 2005 specializing in grief and relationship counselling, as well as presently being a Parent Coordinator and Collaborative Professional, she has worked to help clients successfully devise fair and child-focused parenting plans, but more importantly, helped them to accept and deal with divorce grief so they can be healthy role models for their children and move forward wisely in their post-separation lives.

Julie Layne

Julie Layne, principal of boutique firm Layne Family Law, practices in all aspects of family law matters including separation, divorce, cohabitation/marriage contracts, changes to previous orders and agreements.

Ms. Layne received a J.D. Law from the University of Toronto in 2002 after obtaining an Honours Bachelor of Arts, High Distinction, Political Science and International Development in 1998.

In 2013 Ms. Layne obtained her Masters in Family Law from Osgoode Hall Law School. She also completed her certification and training in Collaborative Family Law.

Ms. Layne is trained and experienced in negotiation, mediation, arbitration, collaborative family law and litigation. She negotiates agreements with other parties and if necessary has the experience to represent clients in court to get results.

She enhances her practical work experience by advancing her knowledge and skills through academic and non-profit experience.

Ms. Layne sits as the Secretary of the Ontario Bar Association Family Law Section where she volunteers her time serving and advocating on behalf of the family law bar in Ontario.

She is also a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the York Region Bar Association and the Advocates Society.

AJ Jakubowska

AJ Jakubowska has practiced exclusively in the area of family law for the last 23 years. During this period of time, she has worked for, and with, some of Canada’s most prominent family law lawyers while wearing a variety of hats: articling student, junior and then senior associate, partner. For the last 10 years, she has presided over her own family law practice, in York Region. Her experience with addressing family law disputes has included litigation, mediation and arbitration. A constant theme of AJ’s work as a lawyer has been her strong belief that dialogue and settlement is always the preferred method for resolving family law disputes, and that it should be pursued with sincerity and vigour where appropriate. Litigation, while sometimes required by the circumstances of a particular case, should be the last resort and even in the context of litigation, a measure of dialogue and cooperation is always possible. A strong proponent of Ontario’s Case Management system, AJ works on educating the public on the legal system in general and family law in Ontario in particular. She is the author of a popular blog on these topics. AJ’s particular interests are self-represented litigants and she has written a number of articles on this topic as well.

Maxine Kerr

Maxine is a sole practitioner and mediator in Aurora, Ontario, with a Bay Street background. Her practice is focused exclusively on family law. She is formerly a partner of one of Canada's largest full-service law firms, where she practised in the areas of family law, civil litigation and corporate restructuring. Maxine’s approach to resolving family conflict is to keep the businesses and the wealth of clients intact and to insulate children from parental conflict. Maxine is a member of the Board and the co-President of the Ontario Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC-O) and she is a member of the York Region Law Association. Maxine was a member of the Executive of the Family Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association for several years and she is a past Member at Large of the Family Law Practice Group of The Advocates Society. Maxine is a frequent instructor in continuing legal education programs. Maxine is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law and the Rotman School of Business.

Carrie Heinzl

In 2012, Carrie co-founded Fairmore Family Law Financial Solutions to offer independent, fact-based financial analytics and settlement insights to individuals and couples working through separation and divorce. Carrie is a graduate of the University of Toronto as a Psychology Specialist (BSc. Hon.), a master’s candidate in Forensic and Legal Psychology (University of Leicester, UK), and holds a Graduate Certificate in Court and Tribunal work. Carrie is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) and has Level I and II Collaborative Family Law certification. Carrie has taught statistics, research methodologies and psychology at college and university levels. Carrie serves on the Board of Directors of York Collaborative Practice and Durham Collaborative Practice, and is an active member in Durham Collaborative Practice, York Collaborative Practice, Kawartha Collaborative Practice and Collaborative Practice Toronto. Carrie has been developing education programs focused on legal, individual and financial engagement of those people within the Family Law system for over a decade. Most recently, in 2018 Carrie co-authored the presentation for “Saving the Golden Goose – How collaborative practice can have family business thrive and survive divorce” and presented at the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario Annual Conference; and at the 2018 October’s Annual Conference of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals held at Seattle, Washington. Carrie is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada holding a Paralegal License and a member of the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts.

John Panagakos

Collaboratively trained John Panagakos is the founder of Separation Mortgages, Canada’s first and only dedicated service helping individuals and couples secure mortgage financing during and after separation. John is an experienced licensed mortgage professional with unparalleled insight, who works with Canada’s charter banks and has privileged relationships with a wide range of lenders. John can provide customized services and creative solutions for the benefit of his clients, and they family’s changing needs. www.separationmortgages.com