Frequently Asked Questions

A family mediator is an impartial third-party facilitator who helps separating couples negotiate their own legally binding agreements out of court. At Absolute Dispute Resolution, we do not take sides or make decisions for you; instead, we provide a structured, confidential environment to help you resolve parenting schedules, asset division, and support calculations peacefully. 

Yes, mediation is highly effective for common-law couples, especially since Ontario estate and property division rules differ significantly from legal marriages. We help common-law couples navigate property claims, constructive trusts, and child support calculations without paying expensive courtroom litigation fees. 

While family mediation is not strictly mandatory by provincial law, Ontario judges strongly encourage it and can penalize parties who unreasonably refuse to try it. Under Ontario’s Family Law Rules, courts expect separating couples to make serious, good-faith efforts to resolve parenting and financial conflicts through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) paths before utilizing court resources. 

We offer assistance with many types of disputes.

• Separation & Divorce
  Parenting plans, child support, spousal support, and property division 
• Parenting Coordination
  Ongoing support for co-parents to reduce conflict and improve communication
• Civil Litigation
  Contract disputes, personal claims, and property disagreements
• Intergenerational & Family Disputes
  Decisions around caregiving, living arrangements, and family dynamics
• Wills & Estates Disputes
  Conflicts over inheritance, executorship, and estate administration

It is best to try mediation before the litigation process creates too much mistrust and bitterness between the parties, and before lawyers initiate expensive processes. Both parties must agree to mediation. Starting mediation early in the process can save the parties as high as 75% on legal fees. 

• Full control; you make the decisions. The parties involved know their family best, and so they should be the ones making the decisions that directly impact their family. Do not let a stranger decide your future. 
• Mediation is typically at least 75% cheaper than litigation.
• Mediation is much less stressful than a bitter court battle.Mediation, on average, takes less than 9 months to resolve your matter, as opposed to years tied up in a court action.  

A Parenting Coordinator is a neutral professional (often a family law or mental health professional such as a mediator or social worker) who helps high-conflict co-parents implement their existing custody or separation agreements. The goal is to reduce day-to-day conflict and keep the focus on the children's best interests. 

Yes. While the primary goal is to help you and your co-parent reach agreements on your own, a PC can step in and make a binding decision (PC arbitration) if you reach an impasse. This authority must be clearly outlined in your separation agreement, court order, or PC contract. 

Parenting Coordination is a structured post-separation process designed to help high-conflict parents implement and interpret their existing parenting plans. Unlike a mediator who helps you write the initial agreement, a Parenting Coordinator acts as a neutral manager to resolve day-to-day disputes regarding school, health care, and extracurricular activities without going back to court. 

An Ontario parenting plan outlines how separated parents will handle decision-making responsibilities, residential schedules, holiday splits, and transitions between households. Our mediation process ensures that your customized parenting plan keeps the best interests of your children at the center of all discussions. 

You do not need a lawyer to accompany you to mediation, however, if you have retained a lawyer and would like them present, that is fine as well. Once the final agreement has been drafted by your mediation, it is strongly advised that you obtain independent legal advice prior to signing your final agreement.

A divorce coach is a professional who provides strategic guidance, emotional management, and organizational support to individuals navigating separation. Unlike lawyers who manage legal rules, a coach focuses on communication strategies, goal setting, and future planning. 

The main difference is that therapy treats mental health and heals past trauma, while divorce coaching is forward-looking and goal-oriented. Coaching focuses on the practical logistics, strategic decision-making, and communication skills needed to complete a separation.

Yes. A divorce coach does not replace a lawyer but works alongside them to reduce legal costs. Clients use a coach to organize financial disclosures, clarify parenting goals, and manage emotions so they do not use expensive legal hours for administrative or emotional support.

A divorce coach saves you money by streamlining the preparation process for legal meetings. This financial efficiency is achieved through:

• Pre-mediation planning to reduce billable hours spent negotiating basic terms.
• Organized document preparation so lawyers spend less time sorting files.
• Efficient communication training to prevent costly, conflict-driven legal correspondence.

A coach helps parents transition from a marital relationship to a businesslike co-parenting partnership. They assist with creating functional communication boundaries, establishing parallel parenting boundaries, and drafting realistic parenting schedules before legal mediation begins. 

You can hire a divorce coach at any of the three major stages of separation:

• Pre-Divorce: To evaluate options, plan financial organization, and prepare for the initial conversation with a spouse.
• During Divorce: To maintain emotional regulation, prepare for mediation hearings, and make rational long-term decisions.
• Post-Divorce: To navigate co-parenting adjustments, establish single-parent households, and build a post-separation lifestyle.

A Voice of the Child Report is a confidential assessment based on independent interviews that ensures a child's direct views and preferences are respectfully considered during parenting disputes. This child-focused report gives children a safe space to express their thoughts on family transitions without forcing them into the middle of parental conflict. 

There is no legislated minimum age for a Voice of the Child Report in Ontario, but they are most commonly and reliably conducted for children aged 7 to 17. The deciding factor is whether the child has the cognitive and developmental capacity to understand the questions and express their independent views, which our trained practitioners evaluate on a case-by-case basis. 

No, a Voice of the Child Report gives the child a voice, not a choice. The report simply ensures that the child’s authentic preferences, concerns, and feelings are respectfully considered as one of many critical factors when determining their best interests. 

A standard Voice of the Child Report typically involves two distinct, neutral interview sessions with the child to ensure consistency and reliability. This allows the practitioner to build comfort and rapport in the first meeting, and to clarify or confirm the child's true, uncoerced perspectives during the second meeting. 

A divorce document preparation assistant is a non-legal administrative professional who helps you organize, format, and compile your separation paperwork using advanced digital tools. This service focuses entirely on clerical accuracy, data organization, and administrative efficiency to help you prepare your files for the court system. 

No. Absolute Dispute Resolution is not a law firm, we do not employ lawyers, and we do not provide legal advice or courtroom representation. We cannot tell you what your legal rights are, how a judge might rule, or what strategies to use; for legal advice or advocacy, you must consult a licensed family lawyer. 

Using a document preparation service saves you significant money by eliminating high billable hours for basic paperwork. Lawyers charge hundreds of dollars an hour for data entry; by using our tech-assisted service to compile, sort, and organize your files beforehand, you can hand your lawyer a perfectly organized package, allowing them to focus strictly on legal review. 

No. Choosing which specific legal forms to file requires legal knowledge and constitutes legal advice. We can only assist with organizing and typing information into the specific forms and templates that you, your mediator, or your legal counsel have explicitly identified and instructed us to prepare. 

When both you and your spouse agree and you both are willing to sign the divorce documents. This eliminates the need for service of the documents upon your spouse and can save you time and money.

Both parties must agree to sign the divorce documents throughout the divorce process. If one spouse changes his or her mind after the initial joint divorce documents are signed and filed with the Court, Absolute Dispute Resolution cannot assist you further, and will recommend that you use a family law lawyer. We can provide a referral to one if you need one.

A divorce process where one spouse (“Applicant”) signs and files divorce documents with the court. These documents are served on the other spouse (“Respondent”) by a third party unrelated to the matter.

The Respondent has 30 days to file an Answer to the Application. If no answer is received within the 30 days, then the Court considers the matter to be an uncontested divorce. The Respondent does not have to sign any documents.

Absolute Dispute Resolution only assists parties filing for a joint or simple divorce. If you are filing a contested divorce or your spouse contents your application, it will be recommended that you retain a family lawyer. We can refer you to one if you would like.

According to the Divorce Act, “breakdown of a marriage is established only if:

1. the spouses have lived separate and apart for at least one year immediately preceding the determination of the divorce proceeding and were living separate and apart at the commencement of the proceeding; or

2. the spouse against whom the divorce proceeding is brought has, since celebration of the marriage,

a. committed adultery, or

b. treated the other spouse with physical or mental cruelty of such a kind as to render intolerable the continued cohabitation of the spouses.”

Absolute Dispute Resolutions only deals with matters where the parties have been separated for at least one year. If you are divorcing based on one of the other grounds, please see a family lawyer.

For more information, click here Divorce Act (Canada).

Your spouse will either need to sign the divorce documents or be served with them. Your spouse can be served at home, work, or any other place. If you cannot locate your spouse, you will need to show the Court that you have tried to locate your spouse. You can try 411, yellow pages, Facebook, Instagram or hire a skip tracer to try to locate them. In order to utilize our service, we must have an address for your spouse. If you are unable to find your spouse, you should contact a family lawyer for other options.

In Canada, a judge can legally grant a divorce after you and your spouse have been living separate and apart for exactly one full year (365 days). However, processing the paperwork through the court system can take an additional 6 to 8 months depending on local backlogs.  

Our tech-assisted service speeds up this timeline by ensuring your paperwork is perfectly formatted, organized, and free of clerical errors, preventing the administrative rejections that often cause major court delays.