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How to Use the Internet
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Click Here to Go to the Paper's Table of Contents
Joel
Miller
Tel:
(416) 361-1982
Fax: (416) 361-9418
Presented
at the:
National Family Law
Program
St. John's, Newfoundland
July 11th, 2000
Contents
Click Here to Go to the Paper's Table of Contents
Appendix 1 Generic Family Law Sites
Appendix 2 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or Question and Answer (Q&A) Sites
Appendix 3 Family Law Lawyers Sites
Appendix 4 Child Support Guideline Information
Appendix 5 The Cases and Comments Listing of Topics on the FLC Site
Appendix 6 Parental Alienation Syndrome Sites
Appendix 7 TASA List of Expert Categories
Appendix 9 FLC Lawyers Listings With Websites
Appendices
Appendix
1
Generic
Family Law Sites The Access To
Justice Network This site is just terrific and has all sorts of information
on almost any aspect of Canadian law you can imagine. It is well worth while
visiting and spending an hour browsing just for your own information. It has
a considerable amount of family law material but not neatly collected in one
place. The thing to do with this site is to click on the Browse AJCNet box on
the home page and then do a search. Find the particular topic you are interested
in by clicking on the drop down box listing all of what's available and scroll
down to what you are interested in. There are topics such as Adoption, Babysitting,
Child abuse, Child support, Custody, Divorce, Family Court, Family law, Family
violence, Marriage, Mediation, Spousal support, etc. In many cases you find
a connection to some other site and in other cases you are taken to a specific
document on the topic prepared by some respectable source. One feature of this
site is that you can restrict your search to any particular province, Canada,
International, Other Country or All. Gene C. Colman - Family Law
Centre Gene's site is certainly one of the most informative of the
Canadian family law sites on a variety of substantive issues. It has a wonderful
set of articles he has written on a wide range of subjects as well as access
to various family law links. If a subject he has dealt with is of relevance
to a particular case you're dealing with, you are well advised to check it out
and consider recommending it to a client for her or him to review on their own.
I suggest taking a few moments to look over the various items on Gene's site,
and to check back from time to time as he adds more, so you will know what part
of this resource you can use with a client whenever the appropriate moment arises.
Gene C. Colman practices in Toronto, Ont. Duhaime's
Canadian Family Law Centre Lloyd Duhaime, practising in Victoria, B.C., is one prolific
Internet lawyer. He is responsible for the huge World Wide Legal Information
Centre <http://www.wwlia.org/> which he presents with great wit
and an impressive range of knowledge. His Duhaime's Canadian Legal Information
Centre <http://www.wwlia.org/ca-home.htm> has legal information
available on the Internet broken into provinces. But his Canadian Family
Law Centre <http://www.duhaime.org/famcentr.htm> is of particular
interest for us because it has all sorts of really useful basic family law information
written with the interested layman in mind. I don't know Mr. Duhaime but if
his conversation is as interesting as his writing style, he'd be a delightful
and informative guest at any dinner party. If you want to give your client an
idea of the basics of family law issues and not get too detailed, this is a
great place to start. Joel Miller's Family Law Centre (the FLC)
Please forgive the lack of modesty, but I love this site. The
various Directories of the FLC make it of some
use for most family law clients. The Resources
Directory contains links with comments to such topics as Abuse, Adoption,
Canadian Family Law, Canadian Family Law Lawyers on the Internet, Divorce and
Divorcing, Gay and Lesbian Rights, Missing Children, and Parental Alienation
Syndrome, amongst others. The home page has links to resources relating to the
Child Support Guidelines, Family Law Legislation, and Court Decisions, as well
as the largest Directory available on the Internet of Canadian family law lawyers.
For both lawyers and clients there is a wealth of information
available in the Cases and Comments section
which includes full copies, often in a hyperlinked version, of papers delivered
at family law conferences by experienced lawyers, professors, accountants, etc.
Some familiarity with the topics dealt with makes it easy to recommend to a
client that they spend some of their own time reading about a matter of relevance
to them so they can be informed on the topic. That generally makes it easier
for you to explain how you see their case and why a particular approach may
or may not be appropriate in their specific situation. A full listing of the
items appearing in Cases and Comments is found
in Appendix 5. But perhaps the most interesting or valuable section of the
site for clients across Canada is the Speakers Corner
section. This is a bulletin board section with 23 different forums. Your client
can go there and read messages posted by ordinary people caught in the throws
of a family law problem. Sometimes the grief and anguish, or the frustration,
you client is experiencing is placed into a better perspective when they see
that their experience is shared by others, many of whom may be seen as having
a worse set of circumstances. Sometimes it helps a client just to know that
they aren't the only ones with unsolvable problems. The ability to open up to
someone else, without worrying about a lawyer's fee clock running, is often
cathartic and people find that they may actually have some experience to offer
others to help them out. The fact that this is done at a keyboard and through
a screen with unknown people doesn't seem to diminish the experience. Donald
Moir's Family Law Canada Don practices in Vancouver, B.C., and has put up a site which
also has a good amount of general family law information on it, although the
site is primarily focussed on the law in British Columbia. I will be setting
out below sites of Canadian lawyers which have family law information on them,
usually in a Question and Answer format, but Don's site contains a wider amount
of such information than most. Lawrence S. Pascoe
Lawrence Pascoe is a lawyer in Nepean, Ontario with a really
great family law site. If one was looking for finalists for the best Canadian
family law website this would make the short list. It looks good, is easy to
read and to navigate and has lots of features to it, including a legal quiz,
articles and legal information packets. His site, The Pascoe Difference,
is filled with information including "packets" of information on Family Law,
Wills & Estates and Residential Real Estate. There are articles he has written
on various family law topics, a great checklist of items to keep in mind when
preparing a Separation Agreement and a detailed Matrimonial Information form
for clients to fill out to simplify matters for their lawyer. This is a really
great site. Morrie Sacks This is one terrific site full of family law information. The
site is well designed and has a greater amount of useful information on a wide
variety of family law topics than most sites around. While it contains some
information of particular value to lawyers and people in British Columbia, most
of its sections have application across the country. Well worth visiting.
<http://www.acjnet.org/acjeng.html>
<http://www.4famlaw.com/>
<http://www.duhaime.org/famcentr.htm>
<http://www.familylawcentre.com/>
<http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dlmoir/homepage.htm>
<http://www.thepascoedifference.com/>
<http://www.sackslaw.bc.ca/>
Appendix 2
Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ)
and Question and Answer (Q&A) Sites
Law Society and Legal Information Society FAQ Sites
If there is a provincial site to which I have not referred it's because I haven't yet found it and its absence doesn't suggest it isn't worthy of inclusion. If there is a site I have missed, please contact me so I can include it in the version of this paper found on the Internet.
Alberta
The
Law Society of Alberta
<http://www.lawsocietyalberta.com/public_legal/divorce_separate.asp>
The Law Society has a page devoted to the issue: When You Divorce or Separate.
The
Legal Studies Program, Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta
<http://www.extension.ualberta.ca/legalfaqs/ab.htm>
This is an attractive site with its Q&A section divided into Alberta and National sections Although there are some different topics there is certainly some overlapping. If your client is concerned with family law issues which are not dependant upon provincial legislation, this site is great. And if you are in Alberta, even better. This is a terrific resource.
The
Student Legal Services of Edmonton
<http://www.acjnet.org/cgi-bin/legal/legal.pl?lkey'no&ckey'pareslse&tkey'docs>
This organization publishes A Guide to the Law Regarding Parents and Family Law in Alberta. It seems appears thorough and its Table of Contents is available on the Internet. To obtain the document itself you need to download in Word format.
New Brunswick
The
Public Legal Education and Information Service of New Brunswick
<http://www.legal-info-legale.nb.ca/mainframe_EN.htm>
This PLIES has published a pamphlet on the topic Custody and Access in New Brunswick which is available on the Internet and is a detailed look at the subject. Obviously this is keyed into New Brunswick legislation and sets out matters from the perspective of that province.
Newfoundland and Labrador
The Department
of Justice - Frequently Asked Questions
<http://www.gov.nf.ca/just/FAQ's/JUS_FAQ.HTM>
This is a fairly limited FAQ section but it does have a section on Support Enforcement.
Nova Scotia
The
Public Legal Education Society of Nova Scotia
<http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Law/PLENS/booklets.html>
This Society publishes a number of booklets on a variety of legal topics to provide legal information to the public. They have these booklets available on the Internet and there are 8 under the Family Law heading. Many of these are set out in traditional Q&A format but some have topical headings and comments. Either way the information is in bite size chunks, easy to read and understand, and of great value for clients.
Ontario
The Law Society
of Upper Canada
<http://www.lsuc.on.ca/public_en.shtml>
The LSUC has an extensive section devoted to information about family law. You get to it by going to their main page and clicking on Public Legal Information. That takes you to a page with information about a number of topics. You can scroll down to the Family Law section to access 16 different topics. Much of the information here, as on other such sites, has application across the country although the information is designed for the Ontario resident.
The
Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General Family Justice Matters
<http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/html/SERV/serfjm.htm>
The Ontario AG's Department offers a page with information about Family Courts, Supervised Access, the Family Responsibility Office Home Page, The Office of the Children's Lawyer, and Lawyers and Legal Aid. It also has access to the new Family Law Rules in Ontario as well as information about the provincial Child Support Guidelines and Family Violence. In addition you can find online versions of What you should know about Family Law In Ontario and Where Do I Stand: A Child's Legal Guide To Separation and Divorce. This last booklet is a long time standard in Ontario and well worth reviewing for children in any province. But check it out for yourself first.
Prince Edward Island
The
Community Legal Information Association of Prince Edward Island Inc.
<http://www.acjnet.org/cgi-bin/legal/legal.pl?lkey'no&ckey'famclia&tkey'docs&#TABLE>
This Association publishes a booklet titled The Islanders' Guide to the Family Law Act which is on the Internet in hyperlinked format. It's easy to read and of value for clients in Prince Edward Island.
Saskatchewan
The Public Legal Education
Association of Saskatchewan
<http://www.plea.org/index.html>
The Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan (PLEA) is a not-for-profit, non-government organization that provides legal information and law-related education to the people of Saskatchewan. The PLEA provides a great set of material for teachers including work books and mock trial scenarios, plays, etc., dealing with various justice and law related issues. If you click on Publications you get a frame based page with a number of legal categories listed. Under Family Law they have a group of Q&A type topics which are easy to read and quite informative. You might also be interested in the topics which appear Domestic Crisis, and Youth Justice.
Non Official Sites
Legal Line
<http://www.legalline.ca/a1.html>
Legal Line is a non-profit group which provides free legal information through the distribution of a fold out pamphlet to all sorts of community sites throughout Ontario. They plan to have the 2001 version delivered by mail to 3.5 million homes and businesses across the province. As well they have a telephone Dial-A-Law type service and their Internet site. The information available through the Internet is for 28 different law categories of which Family Law has 29 subcategories grouped under these seven headings: Marriage, Separation and Divorce, Custody of Children, Support, Common Law Relationships, Adoption, and Abuse: Child and Spousal.
Their information was developed with the volunteer efforts of over 300 participating lawyers and the family law section is well worth while. I understand that Legal Line is considering expanding to other provinces in the near future.
LawFAQs
(Divorce Questions) from Canada's SchoolNet
<http://www.acjnet.org/youthfaq/divorce.html>
The Law FAQs section found on ACJNet is part of the Canada's SchoolNet program and Ais a component of a joint project of ACJNet (Access to Justice Network), Industry Canada, the Legal Studies Program, University of Alberta and the Human Rights Research and Education Centre@. It is found near the bottom of the Law Room page on the SchoolNet site. This is a great site for young people to learn about many aspects of Canadian law in a manner pitched to different school grade levels. It has classroom projects for grades 1 - 12.
The Divorce Questions section of Law FAQs has 148 separate questions written as though submitted by a student and answered at a public school level (for a bright child). What makes this so interesting for family law practitioners is that you can recommend it to your clients on the basis that this will likely help them deal with questions from their children when really it will be a format in which the client will be able to seek out answers to questions they may have but didn't think of asking or were embarrassed to ask.
These questions, taken at random, indicates how this FAQ page works:
Canadian Family Law Lawyers Sites
Lawyers Listed in the FLC Family Law Lawyers Directory
Linda Alexander
<http://www.trigger.net/%7Ealexan/>
Ms. Alexander is a sole practitioner in Brampton Ontario with a clean and attractive site setting out her areas of practice and including an informative FAQ section under each one. For Family Law she has information about Custody, Divorce, Mediation and a Table with the Ontario Child Support Guidelines. Good information for her clients and anyone else concerned about these subjects.
Gregory B. Castellano
<http://www.gclawyers.com/>
Mr. Castellano has offices in Guelph and Mississauga, Ontario and a great website. He has maps to his offices and FAQ sections for many family law issues. He has put up the new Ontario Family Law Rules with a frame so you can slide up or down to the rule you want and click to get it brought up. Pretty neat. He has a great idea about posting various forms online for people to download, but only had one up when I last checked.
Marc
J. Corderre
<http://www.ottawalaw.com/>
Mr. Corderre practices family law in Ottawa, Ontario, and is licensed in both Common Law and Civil Law and has a FAQ page with a number of issues raised and answered.
Goldwater,
Dube
<http://www.goldwaterdube.com/>
This fully bilingual firm serves the Montréal community, specializing in matters of matrimonial and family law, such as custody, visiting rights, alimentary pensions, lump sums and compensatory allowances. Sub-specialties include dealing with international kidnapping cases and cases of parental alienation syndrome. They have an articles section with thoughtful and informative material on Bankruptcy and Family Law, Long Distance Custody Cases and Parental Alienation Syndrome.
Fishman Beley
<http://www.fbfamilylaw.mb.ca/>
This is a 2 lawyer firm in Winnipeg, Manitoba, whose practice, for more than twenty years, has been mainly in the Family Law field. They have a Family Law Primer section with a great deal of information on a wide number of topics. Also a separate FAQ section and Links. The site has a collection of Manitoba family law statues and legislation for easy access and a News & Views section in which Len Fishman sets out information about recent changes and developments in family law in Manitoba. The site also has the Family Law Manitoba Forum bulletin board. Great site.
Harper Jascot
<http://harperjaskot.com/>
This is a 4 lawyer firm in Hamilton, Ontario. You can get their publication Positive Pathways - The process of separation and divorce; The Legal Overview directly from the site. It has a great deal of practical and sensible advice. The site also has a bulletin board but there were slim pickings when last checked.
Stephen Lautens
<http://www.lautens.com/law.html>
Steven has left the building - or at least the practice of law. But he has left us his often whimsical and always informative website. It has a Family Law Quiz and A Brief Guide to Ontario Family Law (Family Law in a Nutshell). The site also has a collection of articles Steven writes for several papers across the country. Steven includes a page in tribute to his father, columnist and humorist Gary Lautens, and 2 of his most requested columns. All in all a neat site at which to spend some.
Carey Linde
<http://www.divorce-for-men.com/>
Carey is a Vancouver lawyer with two wonderful sites. He is the host of The Surfing Lawyer <http://www.netlegal.com/> which is a great site for all kinds of legal information, both from Canada and the rest of the world. On his site, Carey has information about himself and his practice with a statement of his philosophy ("Equal rights for Men and Women - No exceptions! for the kids sake ..."). This site has a great listing of Vancouver Area Resources, which is the kind of thing every city should eventually develop. But the site is particularly noteworthy for what must be the most extensive and exhaustive listing of Men's Resources and Women's Resources on any site on the Internet - certainly any Canadian site I've seen. He labels each site he lists with a flag so you can tell its country of origin and usually sets out a brief note about the site. If you're interested in any of the Men's or Women's issues, this is definitely the place to start.
MacLean Nicol
<http://divorce.bc.ca/>
This 4 lawyer family law firm has offices in Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey and has a great website (with maps to their offices). Lots of information and a nifty Child Support Calculator for figuring out what the Guidelines require to be paid if you enter the salary and number of children.
Milne Selkirk
<http://www.milneselkirk.com/>
A 7 lawyer firm with offices in Vancouver, Langley and New Westminister, with 2 lawyers doing family law this firms website has a limited listing of FAQ's but posts 3 interesting articles titled Child Support Guidelines, Marriage Agreements, and Mediation - How does it work? And is it right for me? These are well worth the read.
Don
Moir
<http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dlmoir/homepage.htm>
Don Moir is a family law lawyer in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has put up a full and valuable site filled with all sorts of Canadian family law information. What distinguishes this site from most is the range and detail of the original information he has posted. There are a number of well written and informative articles on family law matters as well as a thorough listing of Internet sites dealing with Canadian, American and International issues. If you want Canadian family law information, this is a great site to start at.
Nathens, Siegel
<http://nathenssiegel.advocate.net/>
This 3 lawyer firm in Toronto has a clean and neat website with a good FAQ section and an interesting Newsletter. They are also the authors of the Nathens, Siegel Guide to Family Courts in the Toronto Area. This is of great value for Toronto family law practitioners but was not available on their own site at last look. The Guide is available, however, through The Family Law Centre site.
Lawrence
S. Pascoe
<http://www.thepascoedifference.com/>
Lawrence Pascoe is a lawyer in Nepean, Ontario with a terrific family law site. If one was looking for finalists for the best Canadian family law website this would make the short list. It looks good, is easy to read and to navigate and has lots of features to it, including a legal quiz, articles and legal information packets. His site, The Pascoe Difference, is filled with information including "packets" of information on Family Law, Wills & Estates and Residential Real Estate. There are articles he has written on various family law topics, a great checklist of items to keep in mind when preparing a Separation Agreement and a detailed Matrimonial Information form for clients to fill out to simplify matters for their lawyer. This is a really great site.
Pavey Law
<http://www.paveylaw.com/>
This Cambridge, Ontario firm has a website with not much family law information on it but it does have two interesting family law articles: An Outline of the Law of Custody and Marriage Contracts and Shares of Private Companies.
Reesor, Martin
<http://www.cadvision.com/rml/>
David Reesor of this Calgary, Alberta, firm has put up a site with lots of questions and lots of answers. Of particular value to those in the Calgary area is the inclusion of private and non-private counselling services available with their telephone numers. Why don't more family law lawyers put that information onto their websites?
Richardson Teryl Scott
<http://www.novalawyer.com/>
A 4 lawyer firm in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, this firm offers a range of services including family law. They have a selection of comments on various topics amongst which is one on Spousal Abuse, but what makes this site so interesting is that you can click on a service area and hear a recorded message about that area of the law. Click on Divorce and Family Law.
Morrie Sacks
<http://www.sackslaw.bc.ca/>
This is one terrific site full of family law information. The site is well designed and has a greater amount of useful information on a wide variety of family law topics than most sites around. While it contains some information of particular value to lawyers and people in British Columbia, most of its sections have application across the country. Well worth visiting.
Segal
Talarico Habib Molat
<http://www.cyberus.ca/%7Emdsegal/website2/www_legal-team_com.htm>
A 4 lawyer firm in Ottawa, Ontario, this firm's website has an interesting FAQ link in the Family Law section. It lists the questions and you can click onto an icon to open up the answer if you want to see it.
Skapinker
& Shapiro
<http://www.ontariofamilylaw.com/skapin-a.htm>
A 2 lawyer family law firm in downtown Toronto, Ontario, this site has some interesting notes and comments about various aspects of choosing and dealing with a lawyer in addition to a brief outline of specific family law matters.
Torkin
Manes Cohen Arbus
<http://www.torkinmanes.com/quiz/quiz1a.asp>
This is a 40+ lawyer firm in Toronto, Ontario with a 5 lawyer family law division. Their site is a treat to look at with lots of information about the firm and its practice areas. There's no family law information when you click on the Family Law practice group but there is a section called the Quiz on the home page from which you can access a Divorce and Family Law Quiz with multiple choice answers to click. When you submit your completed Quiz you are told how many correct answers you got and have the option of looking at full answers to the questions setting out the law. Neat and interactive. A fun and informative way to deal with family law issues.
White
Ottenheimer & Baker
<http://www.wob.nf.ca/Practice/practice.htm>
A 19 lawyer firm in St. John's, Newfoundland, with family law as one of its practice areas. At last check the firm had 2 family law articles on the site. The one dealing with Property Division and the Law for Married and Cohabiting Couples in Newfoundland and Labrador by D. Scott Worsfold is detailed and helpful.
Other Canadian Family Law Lawyers Sites
Gene C. Colman
<http://www.4famlaw.com/>
Gene Colman is a family law lawyer in Toronto, Ontario, with a very extensive and very informative family law site which he has recently revised and expanded. This is absolutely one of the best sites around. He has many of his own articles and comments on a variety of family law matters and has links to other family law related sites. Well worth visiting. Unlike most sites with information in a FAQ format, Gene has information in full size articles on selected topics. He doesn't cover everything, but if he deals with a subject of interest to you, you're in luck. He offers a service to persons who are acting for themselves by preparing, for a fee, a memorandum of law dealing with the situation the person is faced with.
Dale, Streiman & Kurz
<http://www.dsklaw.com/>
This is a 3 lawyer firm in Brampton, Ontario, which offers a wide range of services in addition to family law. Their Family Law page has 13 FAQ's on family law topics.
Lloyd Duhaime
<http://www.duhaime.org/famcentr.htm>
Talk about loaded with information! Lloyd Duhaime and his sites have all kinds of information on a wide variety of topics including lots of depth on family law subjects in his Duhaime's Family Law Information Centre. But that's not all. Be sure to check out his Duhaime's Law Dictionary and Duhaime's Law Museum. If you want information - he's got information! A terrific and informative site.
Gordon
& Velletta
<http://www.victorialaw.bc.ca/practice/family.htm>
This is a 4 lawyer firm in Victoria, British Columbia, practising in various areas including family law. They have a very thoughtful, useful and informative article by Rebecca Faber that's well worth reading: Married and "Common-Law" Relationships: What's the Difference?
McMillan
Binch
<http://www.mcbinch.com/Inprint/template/Welcome.php3?area'12>
This 160 lawyer Toronto firm has a section entitled AIn Print@ with a Private Clients and Family Law section which has a good section dealing with the Child Support Guidelines as well as considerable in formation about the M. v. H. case and issues relating to equality law.
Murphy, Collette
<http://www.discribe.ca/murco/>
The Law Notes section is quite badly out of date but there are a group of FAQs called "brochures" available on family law topics.
Pushor
Mitchell
<http://www.pushormitchell.com/welcome.html>
This is a 21 lawyer firm in Kelowna, British Columbia, with a very slick looking site and an interactive e-mailing Legal Alert program. They have lots and lots of articles on various legal subjects including some on family law.
Appendix 4
Child Support Guideline Information
The Federal Government
The
Department of Justice's Child Support Site
<http://canada.justice.gc.ca./en/ps/sup/index.html>
The Department of Justice Canada has a very good website with considerable information available on it for use by clients (as well as lawyers). You can get the Tables, the wording of the Guidelines, lists of cases dealing with various sections, and more. This is a site you want to be familiar with for three reasons:
Of particular interest is the site's section dealing with decided cases. It is found by going to the home page, clicking on Guidelines and related legislation, finding and clicking on Federal Child Support Guidelines: A List of Selected Case Law and Summaries, scrolling to the bottom of the page and then clicking on the message AGo To Document@. Or go there directly by entering:
<http://canada.justice.gc.ca./en/ps/sup/grl/intann.html>
It is useful not only to us as lawyers, but also to our clients affected by the legislation, to see the particular section of the Guidelines affecting them and the cases decided under that section up to a certain point in time. As at the writing of this paper the cases were updated to be effective as at May 1st, 2000.
The Note at the top of this web page says it all:
Note: This site provides some reported and unreported case citations. It also provides summaries of some cases. A line under the case name indicates that a summary is provided for that case. To see the summary, click on the underlined case name.
Cases are generally listed under the sections of the Federal Child Support Guidelines raised in that case. (For example, if determination of annual income and undue hardship were raised in the case, the case name would be listed under both those sections.) While this tells you which sections were raised, the summary addresses only the most important aspects of the case and may not mention the one you are interested in. Please consult the full text of the decision, rather than rely on the summary alone. Additional cases, both reported and unreported, can be found using other sources of case law.
Full citations are given for cases that have been reported but the listing includes cases which have not yet been reported and are not otherwise available through the Internet.
Non-government Guideline Sites
Many of the various FAQ and Q&A sites referred to in Appendices 2 and 3 have material available dealing with the Guidelines .
The FLC's Cases and Comments Section
<http://www.familylawcentre.com/cases.html#csgm>
If you or your client are interested in more than the basic sort of information about the Guidelines this is the place to visit. Look over the listing of comments and papers delivered at various legal education conferences which deal with this subject. There are 15 such papers available under the heading Child Support Guideline Material ranging from those dealing with the Guidelines at large to those dealing with particular aspects. As well these are as two papers under the Income Tax Issues dealing with this subject. More will be added shortly.
Appendix 5
The
Cases and Comments
Listing of Topics on the FLC Site
Actuarial / Pension Matters
Best v. Best: The S.C.C. favours "pro rata" over "value added" for pension valuations By Joel Miller
The Actuary's Role In Family Law Matters By Frederick J. Thompson and Caroline Blouin
Confusion Created in Pension Valuation for Family Law Breakdown Case Law by the Use of the Expressions "Termination Method" and "Retirement Method" By Jack Patterson
Pension Treatment at Divorce and Separation - 10 Key Points You Must Know By Jack Mr. Patterson (available for viewing with the Adobe Acrobat reader).
Child Support Guideline Material
The Impact of the Federal Child Support Guidelines on Spousal Support Orders: An Opportunity For Predictability and Reform In Spousal Maintenance By Thomas Bastedo
Determining The Income Of The Self-Employed Under The Child Support Guidelines By Lawrence S. Pascoe
Child Support Guidelines: Highlights & Insights By Professor Nicholas Bala
Variation By Malcolm Kronby
Extraordinary Expenses By Melanie Kraft and Philip M. Epstein
Determining Income Under the Child Support Guidelines By V. Jennifer MacKinnon
Undue Hardship By Ricki D. Harris
Shared and Split Custody By Professor Carol A. Rogerson
Income Over $150,000/Children Over the Age of Majority By Judith M. Nicoll
Francis v. Baker - The SCC Speaks (The September 17th, 1999, decision dealing with how to set child support for payors with incomes over $150,000)
The Rich Pay Less Child Support in B.C.: (Plester v. Plester & Francis v. Baker) Five Provinces - Two Approaches? By Joel Miller
CSG s. 7(1)(f): What's Extraordinary and What's Not? - 5 Courts of Appeal Have Spoken - The Score is 3 to 2 in Favour of "Subjective" Reasoning: By Joel Miller
The Guidelines Guideline Case By Joel Miller
Child Support Guidelines: Memorandum to Ontario Lawyers By Philip M. Epstein
Child Support Guidelines Legislation: An Overview By Philip M. Epstein
[NOTE: The Department of Justice's Federal Child Support Guidelines: A List of Case Law provides "a non-exhaustive list of reported cases and some unreported appellate court decisions" set out under each section of the Guidelines. This is updated from time to time. JM]
Custody and Access Issues
Allegations of Sexual Abuse When Parents Have Separated By Professor Nick Bala & John Schuman
A Report From Canada's "Gender War Zone": Reforming The Child-Related Provisions of the Divorce Act By Professor Nick Bala
Mobility Rights: Can you take the kids when you move? By Joel Miller
Financial Responsibility For Your Ex Partner's Child Is Forever By Joel Miller
Growing Up In Canada: Children With Single Mothers Have More Problems By Joel Miller
Techniques and Strategies to Promote Shared Parenting By Joel Miller
It's Good News To Have A Dad By Joel Miller
Family Law and the Internet
Family Law and the Internet By Joel Miller
Income Tax Issues
Are Legal Fees Relating to Support Payments Deductible? By Andrew J. Freedman C.A., C.B.V., A.S.A. with Vivian M. Alterman C.A., C.B.V.
The New Child Support Guidelines: Renovated Tax Rules By Andrew J. Freedman C.A., C.B.V., A.S.A.
Income Tax Treatment Under the New Child Support Guidelines By Bruce Roher
Tax Implications of Transferring Shares in a Family Owned Corporation By Bruce Roher
Income Tax Implications of Transferring Assets Between Separated Spouses By Bruce Roher
Mediation
In Family Law, How is Mediation Different from a Settlement Meeting? By Norman Pickell
Miscellaneous
Legal Responses to Domestic Violence By Prof. Nick Bala and Sara Edwards
Family Law and the Internet By Joel Miller
Are Grandparents & Inlaws Liable For Child Support? By Joel Miller
Child Support - The View From Mars By Karen Selick
Mobility Issues
Mobility Rights: Can you take the kids when you move? By Joel Miller
Pensions
Best v. Best - The SCC favours "pro rata" over "value added" for pension valuations By Joel Miller
Confusion Created in Pension Valuation for Family Law Breakdown Case Law by the Use of the Expressions "Termination Method" and "Retirement Method" By Jack Patterson
Pension Treatment at Divorce and Separation - 10 Key Points You Must Know By Jack Mr. Patterson (available for viewing with the Adobe Acrobat reader)
Same Sex Issues
Alternatives For Extending Spousal Support in Canada By Prof. Nick Bala
Intimate Relationships In The New Millennium: The Assumption of Marriage and Cohabitation? By Prof. Winifred Holland
Representing Gay and Lesbian Clients in Family Law By Kelly D. Jordan
Same Sex Partners Now Get "Spousal Support" in Ontario - M v. H Comment, Decision and News Reports By Joel Miller
The Supreme Court of Canada's Head Note in the Vriend v. Alberta case which reads the words "sexual orientation" into Alberta's Individual's Rights Protection Act (IRPA)
Spousal Support Issues
The Impact of the Federal Child Support Guidelines on Spousal Support Orders: An Opportunity For Predictability and Reform In Spousal Maintenance By Thomas Bastedo
Spousal support. Does it ever end? Maybe not. Bracklow v. Bracklow By Joel Miller
Appendix 6
Parental Alienation Syndrome Sites
PAS Material by Dr. Gardner
Legal
and Psychotherapeutic Approaches to the Three Types of Parental Alienation Syndrome
Families: When Psychiatry and the Law Join Forces - an Article by Richard
A. Gardner, M.D. in Court Review, Volume 28, Number 1, Spring 1991 American
Judges Association
<http://wwdivorcedparents.unquote.com/pas-gardner2.htm>
This is an article published in Court Review in which Dr. Gardner sets out some of his views. Obviously the editors felt this was something with which members of the American Judges Association should be familiar. This article is found on both the World-Wide Divorced Parents <http://wwdivorcedparents.unquote.com/start.htm> site and The Fathers Rights to Custody <http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/> site, each of which has a great number of articles on this subject.
The
Parental Alienation Syndrome - the book
<http://www.rgardner.com/pages/32.html>
This is a link to order the 2nd edition of Dr. Gardner's influential book with a link to the table of contents.
Misperceptions
Versus Facts About The Contributions of Richard A. Gardner, M.D. (July 8/99
Update 1)
<http://www.rgardner.com/refs/Misperceptions_vs_Facts.HTM>
To use Dr. Gardner's own words from the introduction to this article:
"This document has been prepared to provide corrections for certain misrepresentations and misperceptions of some of my contributions. There have been unfortunate misinterpretations of some of my positions on a variety of issues. Some of these originated from conflicts in the legal arena, where attorneys frequently select out-of-context material in order to enhance their positions in a court of law. This is the nature of the adversary system, and it is one of the causes of the controversy that sometimes surround my contributions. Some of these misperceptions and misrepresentations have become so widespread that I considered it judicious to formulate this statement."
March
2000 Addendum
<http://www.rgardner.com/refs/addendum2.htm>
This is an addendum to the 2nd edition of The Parental Alienation Syndrome. A good idea, this lets the author use the Internet to update the hard copy of his book. In this addendum Dr. Gardner sets out his observation that the incidence of fathers using the same techniques to alienate a child from the mothers as mothers had earlier been reported to use has now reached the 50% level. This is no longer just a "fathers" concern. I believe that once this is accepted as something which parents do and that it can be done by either parent it will become a more accepted theory. Earlier on PAS was marginalized and criticized by some as a "theory" which fathers used against mothers when their children simply didn't want to spend time with them.
Articles
in Peer-Review Journals on the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)
<http://www.rgardner.com/refs/pas_peerreviewarticles.html>
This link contains two different items of interest. The first is a series of comments on various criticisms of Gardner's PAS theories and the second contains listings of articles on PAS found in various peer-review journals. That second category contains listings of articles written by Gardner (10), by others in which PAS is the sole or primary focus of the article such that it appears in the title (36) or in which the focus is primarily on PAS although not referred to in the title (45). There is also a listing of reviews of Gardner's books appearing in peer-reviewed journals (7). If you want to get information on PAS in reputable journals by people other than Gardner, this is a great starting point. Dr. Gardner updates this list from time to time.
Articles
in Peer-Review Journals on Dr. Richard A. Gardner's Protocols for the Sex-Abuse
Evaluation
<http://www.rgardner.com/refs/SA_ProtocolsPeerReviewArticles.html>
A list of peer-reviewed publications that have accepted articles of Dr. Gardner's describing his full sex-abuse protocols. (15 items)
Testimony
concerning the Parental Alienation Syndrome has been admitted in courts of law
in many states and countries
<http://www.rgardner.com/refs/PAS_LegalCites.html>
This is a listing of various cases throughout the United States and Canada in which evidence of PAS has been admitted. This list is compiled by Dr. Gardner and includes case citations where available or details of the court and date so you can locate the decision if you wish.
PAS Material by Others
Archive Sites
World-Wide
Divorced Parents
<http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/cecilian/630/start.htm>
This site is dedicated to various aspects of the parental alienation syndrome topic. It has a vast selection of articles from throughout the English speaking world on this topic and is highly recommended as a terrific place to start looking PAS material.
The
Fathers Rights to Custody PAS Information Archive
<http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/pasarchive.htm>
This site has a clear and identified bias. But it presents a large range of articles taken from reputable publications dealing with the matters of concern to its readers. This link is to its PAS Information Archive with over 35 such articles. Spending time with these articles helps people understand this parent/parent/child concern in a more dispassionate light - which doesn't make its consequences any less scary.
Specific Sites
The
Spectrum of Parental Alienation Syndrome A two-part article by Deirdre
Conway Rand, Ph.D.appearing in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY.
VOLUME 15. Part 1 in NUMBER 3 1997 and Part 2 in NUMBER 4 1997
<http://www.familylawcentre.com/Rand1.html>
This two-part article seeks to shed light on the debate regarding the issues raised by Dr. Richard Gardner's work dealing with Parental Alienation Syndrome by reviewing Gardner's work and that of others on PAS, integrating the concept of PAS with research on high conflict divorce and other related literature. The material is organized under topic headings such as parents who induce alienation, the child in PAS, the target/alienated parent, attorneys on PAS, and evaluation and intervention. Part 11 begins with the child in PAS. Case vignettes of moderate to severe PAS are presented in both parts, some of which illustrate the consequences for children and families when the system is successfully manipulated by the alienating parent, as well as some difficult but effective interventions implemented by the author, her husband Randy Rand, Ed.D., and other colleagues.
Parents Who Have Successfully Fought Parental
Alienation Syndrome
<http://www.livingmedia2000.com/pas.htm>
This is an article by Jayne A. Major, Ph.D. addresses the question "What can you do when one parent is intractable and vitriolic? What can you do when the child becomes caught up in the fight and takes sides?" Essentially the situation is gloomy for the target parent but Dr. Major gives various strategies to try as well as outlining how all of this affects the child. It's easy to read and sets out ideas about how to deal with PAS when you encounter it.
The
Fathers Guide: Coping with Parental Alienation
<http://www.startext.net/homes/tfer/FG3.htm>
This article by the TEXAS FATHERS FOR EQUAL RIGHTS is a father's group's answer to Dr. Major's question. It provides a positive strategy for dealing with PAS and sets out a series of very worthwhile tips and observations. Very much worth reading if you are the target parent. It offers an upbeat guide through a what is an extremely troubling time and should be a help for parents caught in the PAS web. The article ends with this:
"We acknowledge that we have "lost" our children for the short-term; now we will go for the long-term, knowing that it will take time, patience, and persistence. What happens in the children's other household is beyond our control, but we can take effective control of our own lives, always seeking "the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Identifying
Cases of Parent Alienation Syndrome
<http://www.kopetski1.html/>
This is a two-part article appearing in the Colorado Bar Association's monthly publication THE COLORADO LAWYER, in February and March 1998, Vol. 27, No. 2 & 3. It was written by Leona M. Kopetski, MSSW who worked as a clinical social worker specializing in the field of custody evaluation, in addition to maintaining a private practice in psychotherapy. "Parental alienation cases pose a particularly difficult challenge to lawyers and mental health professionals attempting to help families negotiate divorce. The syndrome is seriously harmful to both children and parents. The articles are intended to help by providing clarifying criteria for identification.
MMPI-2
Validity Scales and Suspected Parental Alienation Syndrome
<http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/pas-siegel.htm>
This article by Jeffrey C. Siegel, Ph.D. and Joseph S. Langford, Ph.D. originally appearing in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY, Volume 16, Number 4, 1998, p. 5-14, reports on their test of two groups of parents and their finding that their hypothesis was confirmed "indicating that PAS parents are more likely to complete MMPI-2 questions in a defensive manner, striving to appear as flawless as possible. It was concluded that parents who engage in alienating behaviours are more likely than other parents to use the psychological defences of denial and projection, which are associated with this validity scale pattern. Implications of this finding regarding possible personality disorders in PAS parents are discussed."
Parent
Alienation Syndrome: A Two Step Approach Toward A Solution
<http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/pas/lowen98.htm>
L.F. Lowenstein, PhD, is a consultant psychologist at the Centre for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Emotional-Behavioural Problems, Allington Manor School and Therapeutic Centre, Allington Lane, Fair Oak, Eastleigh, Hampshire, in England. This article, published in Contemporary Family Therapy, Volume 20, Number 4, December, 1998, p. 505-520, "advances the proposal that mediation play a much larger role in cases of parental alienation syndrome in the British justice system. With one in three or more marriages leading to separation or divorce in Great Britain, there is a great urgency to develop plans with the legal system to make certain that both parents can have the opportunity to continue to play a role in the lives of their children." She refers to a 10-year study involving 16 cases as providing evidence that the initial use of mediation may well be superior to the initial use of the adversarial system on its own.
The
Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Analysis of Sixteen Selected Cases
<http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/pas/dunne.htm>
This the study referred to in the preceding paper. John Dunne and Marsha Hedrick published their report in the JOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGE, Vol. 21, p 21-38 1994 analyzing "sixteen cases which appeared to meet Dr. Richard Gardner's criteria for parental alienation syndrome as set forth in his 1987 book. These cases showed a wide diversity of characteristics but Gardner's criteria were useful in differentiating these cases from other post-divorce difficulties. Traditional interventions were ineffective in altering the alienation."
PAS
Do's & Don'ts
<http://www.familycourts.com/pas_do_dont.htm>
William Kirkendale is an angry father who has been denied access to his daughter and feels that the family courts in the United States are in serious need of reform and education. He isn't alone either in that country or Canada. While some of his comments may be thought to be a bit extreme by some the gist of what he has to say is that a parent who cuts off a child from seeing his (or her) non-custodial parent is cause child abuse and should be seen as doing so. He gives realistic advice to fathers caught in this situation although the stridency in his voice and writing needs to be toned down for such a father to obtain a reasonable hearing. His website familycourts.com
<http://www.familycourts.com/frameset1.htm> has a statement of his mission and other material on it.
PAS - Newsletter
<http://www.vev.ch/en/pas/>
This is a newsletter produced by Promoting Responsible Fatherhood, a father's rights group. Because the bias is clear doesn't mean that the thoughts expressed are exaggerations or not clearly felt by many non-custodial fathers. The most recent item is titled "What can I do about this situation?" and sets out how a parent in this situation can educate him/herself and their lawyer as well as passing on the advice to stay involved with your child as much as possible in the circumstances. The site also has a good archive section of previous items and a links page related to PAS.
Parental
Alienation Syndrome Article
<http://www.divorce-online.com/articles/219770.html>
This excellent article by Daniel H. Swerdlow-Freed, Ph.D. is found at Divorce Online <http://www.divorce-online.com/index.html>, a site with a number of very informative articles on a range of family law subjects. Dr. Swerdlow-Freed's article is a thoughtful and well considered attempt at explaining what this concept is about.
Parental
Alienation Syndrome Homepage
<http://www.education.mcgill.ca/pain/>
This is a Canadian website devoted to information about PAS including many links to material available on the Internet. This site has a discussion group bulletin board for people affected by this situation so they can communicate with each other and express their feelings. Painful to read but certainly gives an insight as to how this affects real people and real families.
Parental
Alienation Syndrome - Article by Dr. Reena Sommer
<http://www.reenasommerassociates.mb.ca/parent.html>
This is an article by Dr. Reena Sommer, a Winnipeg psychologist guided by the belief that children should not be denied a relationship with their parents simply because their moms and dads decide to divorce. Dr. Sommer is known for her research into domestic abuse but now spends much of her time involved in conducting brief therapy, consulting with lawyers and clients on PAS, and overseeing the management of a multidisciplinary group of family life professionals. Dr. Sommer's practice is directed toward helping families experiencing separation and divorce. Her goal is to assist divorcing couples explore options in restructuring their lives. This article is on her website.
Family
Wars: Parent Alienation Syndrome - Composite case from actual examples
<http://homepages.iol.ie/%7Epe/PAS_Report.htm>
This is an article by Peggie Ward, Ph.D. (a member of the Advisory Council of the Professional Academy of Custody Evaluators or PACE) and J. Campbell Harvey, J.D. It sets out a composite - or typical - PAS situation and discusses such things as the harm caused to the child, the various approaches which can be taken to this problem, what motivates alienation, how to recognize alienating behaviours and distinguish between "typical" divorce behaviour and alienation, as well as how to deal with various aspects of this. Well worth the reading. Informative and helpful.
The Emperor's New Clothes : Divorce Process & Consequence (Part 1) <http://www.ukmm.org.uk/publics/tenc/report.htm>
The Emperor's New Clothes : Divorce Process & Consequence (Part 2) <http://www.ukmm.org.uk/publics/tenc/conseq.htm>
This full length report, prepared just after the introduction in England in 1996 of the Family Law Act, this report "gives chapter and verse to the precise mechanisms through which the legal system itself has been wilfully and consciously used to destroy the institution of marriage, against the clear letter of the law and Parliament's stated intentions." The report gives a series of case studies and is quite strong on the injustices seen as existing against fathers. It comes from The Cheltenham Group, which "was established on 30 April 1994 by representatives from a numbers of men's organizations, in order to establish a program of initiatives to address the increasing marginalization of men within the family through legal and social policy measures. The group is non party political and non sectarian but is explicitly committed to work for support for the conventional Judaeo-Christian view of marriage and the married family. The Group now speaks for the United Kingdom Men's Movement on matrimonial and family policy." This is not a "politically correct" piece of writing.
Material Critical of Dr. Gardner
A
Self Made Man
<http://www.swans.com/library/art4/jms001.html>
This is an article by Judith M. Simon which certainly is intended to throw a cold dose of water over the enthusiasts supporting Dr. Gardner and , presumably, challenge his views. While the article raises some very interesting questions about Dr. Gardner himself, it makes no attempt to deal with the credibility of those who have since written reports on the same problem he originally identified as parental alienation syndrome. I don't know much about Ms. Simon, or about the non-legal journals to which she refers, but her trivializing of the legal journals who have published articles by Dr. Simon, and from others on the same topic, certainly causes one to be suspicious about the approach she is taking.
In her own words:
The third category of Dr. Gardner's peer reviewed work consists of papers published in legal journals - Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, New Jersey Family Lawyer, and similar publications. At these journals, submitted articles are reviewed by plenty of really smart lawyers who understand psychology stuff, so I'm pretty sure they were able to separate the wheat from the chaff before publishing Dr. Gardner's sex abuse protocols ("Differentiating Between True and False Sex-Abuse Accusations in Child Custody Disputes"). With the seal of good housekeeping from places like the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, who needs the American Psychiatric Association!
Interestingly enough Ms. Simon leaves out reference to the journal COURT REVIEW, from the American Judges Association, and other responsible legal journals which have printed articles either by Dr. Gardner or by others giving credence to his views. Oh well, we all knew the good doctor was a controversial person.
LIZ Re: Gardner on: Compulsive Tree Planting Syndrome
<http://www.ihsys.com/%7Eliz/liz/gardnerresponds.htm>
This is found on the Liz Library website. It seems that "Liz" is actually Nick Seidenman and that you can find people as passionately and stridently opposed to the concept of PAS as some of those who support it. Read this critique for yourself to see how much of it there is with which you agree.
The Liz
Library
<http://www.gate.net/~liz/>
This site certainly puts forward as vigorous an anti-father's rights view as can be found on the Internet and has some very strong views against Dr. Gardner and his opinions regarding anything at all and PAS in particular. The Liz Library has articles from a variety of people putting forward opinions quite different from those set out above in the previous two sections of this web page. The Liz Library site is clearly concerned about gender politics and waging the fight against the "fathers' rights movement".
TASA List of Expert Categories
Technical Advisory Service
for Attorneys
<http://www.tasanet.com/>
TASA put together a lsit especially for Canadian family law lawyers which was made available with the paper distributed at the National Family Law Conference, 2000.
Appendix 8
Glossary of Terms
What
is set out below is a basic glossary of Internet terms. This is not intended
to be a paper about the technical side of the Internet and the definitions
set out are designed to offer a working knowledge of the terms used.
Often a word is defined by using another word
requiring definition. Whenever a word is in italics it is defined elsewhere
in the Glossary.
address
(a) e-mail
address - Just as with a regular letter, you need a specific address to direct
an e-mail message and you need to have your own address so others can send
messages to you.
(b) website
address - Every website has its own special address so that you can type it
into your browser and have it come up on your screen.
Bookmarks or Favourites
When you come across a site you like you can bookmark it so that you can retrieve it later at your convenience. In Netscape, these sites are found by looking under Bookmarks and in Internet Explorer they are found under Favorites. You can organize your bookmarked sites into folders and sub folders for convenience.
browser
A piece of software which enables you to connect with, and use, the Web. This is usually supplied by your ISP when you sign up to connect with the Internet and you can then download any of the other browsers you may want. The earliest browser was called Mosaic, then Netscape took over the world and then Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) came on like gangbusters. Hardly anyone uses Mosaic any more. The most interesting of the other browsers is one called Opera.
bulletin board
A form of communication in which people read what others have posted and may post their own comments and replies. Often several people respond to the initial posting. This is called a thread. Mostly people read what others have posted and follow the discussion without contributing to it. That's called lurking and is both quite common and quite acceptable.
code
For a web page to be seen it must be written in a code, the most common of which is HTML.
Cyberspace
A term first used by Canadian author William Gibson in 1984 in his novel "Neuromancer". It is now widely used to mean all of the information available through the Internet or "the world of the Internet".
directory
A term for a collection of Internet resources or websites
download
To transfer
a file, information or a program from another site "down" to your computer.
Electronic mail. This is the most common use of the Internet and is usually an informal, typewritten message. It can be copied to many people at the same time and can contain an "attachment" which may be a document prepared by your word processor, a photograph, picture or website.
encryption
A method of sending messages encoded specially so that only those having the key will be able to read it. Usually requires people at both end to have the same software program to work.
FAQ or FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions. This is a term found on many websites for that part of the site which generally provides information in question and answer format to a series of common questions you might have about the site, its product or service.
home page
Each website has a starting page, its home page, which comes up first. Usually the site has its main information on a series of other pages or sections with more information, all of which are accessible from the home page.
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language. This is the "language" in which documents are coded so they will be visible and workable on the Web. A block of text is surrounded by certain codes which tells the computer how the material should appear or what it should do.
http
Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This is how hypertext files get transferred on the Internet. You will see the preface "http" in most web addresses because it tells the technically minded of us, and the computer, how the information from that location is to be transferred.
hypertext
Words which are highlighted when viewed on the screen and which, if you click on them, will take you to another website or another web document within the same website. Often referred to as a "link" because clicking on them links you to the other location. Also refers to documents which contain such links.
Internet
The worldwide
system of thousands of computer networks all interconnected using a special
set of protocols which enable us to enter commands from our own computer and
access websites around the entire world. Generally the word refers to e-mail
and the web as well as other means of transferring information electronically.
Often referred to as the "net". In casual parlance the terms "Internet", "World
Wide Web" and "web" are often confused and used interchangeably, even though
the web is part of the net, as is e-mail.
Internet Explorer (IE)
Now the most popular browser around. Netscape and IE dominate the world of the browsers, although there are several others available. IE is brought to us by Microsoft, which is determined to dominate Netscape in usage. These two bring out new releases or versions about every 6 months to try to out do the other. There was a time way back in 1995 when Netscape dominated the browser world and was used by over 85% of the people accessing the web. Not anymore IE is free.
ISP
Internet Service Provider. The organization you sign up with to get onto the Internet. They have the telephone lines and the equipment to allow you to dial into them and go out from them into the world of the Internet.
link
See hypertext.
lurk
The term
for "hanging out" or looking into various newsgroups or bulletin boards without
actually posting anything or contributing to what is going on. People who
are new to any particular newsgroups or bulletin board are encouraged to lurk
for a while before adding their own thoughts so that they can get the feel
of things.
meta search engines
These are websites or progress which do a search for you using a number of search engines at the same time.
modem
The piece of hardware which, once connected to your computer, allows you to reach the rest of the world through the telephone lines. Modems come in different speeds and the faster your modem, the more pleasurable your Internet experience will be.
net
A colloquial term for the Internet.
Netscape
Netscape burst onto the Internet scene and made Internet use widely popular. It rapidly became the world's most popular tool for browsing the web, or surfing until Microsoft came out with Internet Explorer (IE) which is now the dominant browser. The browser race today is really just between these two.
newsgroup
Similar to bulletin boards. These are places where people can post comments on particular topics, knowing that others interested in that topic will be lurking or checking in to see what's new and, if they want to, post a follow up. There are often topics which draw heated discussion amongst members of the group. There are many thousands of different newsgroups to join and follow.
online
Once you are connected to the Internet you are "online". When a person, business or organization puts material up on the Internet for others to see they have "put it online".
page
All websites consist of pages (or web pages). Each page is an electronic document written in HTML, or some similar code, containing text, images, sound or video. The home page is the first page you get to when you arrive at a site and usually it has a listing or index of the things you can find on other pages at the site and a means of jumping from the home page to any particular page and back.
Q & A
Same as FAQ
search/searches/searching
What you do when you use a search engine. This is the process of entering in a term or key word in a search engine to see what websites show up as being related to the topic you are searching.
search engine
A software program used to perform a search of the Internet to locate websites or pages which are supposed to be on the subject you searched for. You use key words or subjects and the search engine goes out into the Internet to see what pages use those terms on the theory that they are then likely to be of interest to you in your search for information about that particular topic. (See also meta search engines.)
site/site address
See website
to understand what a "site" is. Each site has its own address so your computer
can locate it. That address is its URL.
software
The programs that make your computer do the wonderful things it does. The most commonly known software is for running word processing and accounting functions at the home or office and it also includes programs that run games, make cards, sing and dance.
surfing
Being connected to the Internet and sitting at your computer checking out site after site by following the various links wherever they take you.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. This is the actual address for each Internet resource. Without the URL, or address, you can't tell your computer where on the Internet to go to get you to that particular website.
the web
The World Wide Web (WWW). The web is a huge interconnected series of resources called websites and is, along with e-mail, one of the two most active segments of the Internet. Many people think of the web as the entire Internet and the two terms are often used interchangeably, even though the web is just part of the Internet. To anyone who rarely use e-mail, the Internet is the web. Both of the popular browsers have newsgroup and e-mail access as a part of their websites so many people who are starting out think that e-mail is a part of the web rather than both being part of the Internet.
webmaster
Someone
who runs a website. Usually a person with technical knowledge of things like
HTML and graphics and who makes the Internet work and do the things you want
it to do if you have a website.
web page
See page
website
A sort of electronic publication on the Internet. Websites can be as small as one page or huge, huge, huge with an enormous number of pages. A website can be a one page memo, a book or many volumes such as the Encyclopedia Britannica. It generally consists of several to many pages with different information available. Most often you can jump from various parts of a website to other places within or out of the site through the use of links.
WWW (World Wide Web)
See the web.
Summary of FLC Lawyers Listings
Individual Listings Are Found at the Family Law Centre's Family Law Lawyers Directory
| Provinces | Communities | Listings | Sites | With Info | Duplicate listing |
| 12 | 113 | 436 | 114 | 24 | 38 |
| Alberta | 12 | 21 | 5 | ||
| British Columbia | 25 | 96 | 36 | 4 | 20 |
| Manitoba | 1 | 11 | 3 | 2 | |
| New Brunswick | 7 | 15 | 3 | 2 | |
| Newfoundland | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| Nova Scotia | 7 | 14 | 4 | ||
| Ontario | 59 | 236 | 48 | 17 | 9 |
| Prince Edward Island | 1 | 1 | |||
| Quebec | 2 | 6 | 1 | ||
| Saskatchewan | 7 | 19 | 8 | 4 | |
| Northwest Territories | 0 | ||||
| Yukon | 0 |
