This is episode 74 of Lawyered. I'm Husein Panju. And on this week's episode, we will be speaking with Steven Benmor about recent developments in the area of divorce law. First up, we'll chat about some of the new amendments to the Federal Divorce Act. The Trudeau government recently introduced the most major overhaul of this legislation in decades, and we'll learn about some language tweaks that may shift the thinking away from a winners and losers dynamic. Next, we'll discuss a new civil tort of family violence which may provide for financial compensation to victims of abusive relationships. And we'll also chat about some new case file that provides some clarity about the collection of retroactive child support payments. And finally, in our Ask-Me-Anything segment, we'll chat about a bunch of topics, including prenups, negotiation strategies, and other questions submitted by our listeners. All that and a lot more is coming up in just a bit. This is Lawyered. Hello, listeners, and welcome to another episode of the podcast. And thanks for tuning in. Hope you're having a good summer, and we appreciate you continuing to support the podcast.
And I think that based on the input that I've been receiving-- the transcripts are going a long way in making this show accessible and more digestible as well. I've heard from a number of regular listeners and even some new listeners that these transcripts have been able to get into their feed through whatever measure, and by exchange of doing that, we're getting a bit closer to our goal of decluttering the law and making this information more accessible. So I wanted to just ask for a general color that if it's something that you're interested in doing, we'd really appreciate spreading the word. I was looking through my podcast feed myself - I consume a lot of podcasts, as you can imagine - and I realized that the majority of the podcasts that I follow are actually things that I learned about through word of mouth. A friend of mine said, "Oh this is just a cool podcast, you may like it," or, "This reminded me of something we were speaking about." So if that's something you're interested in doing, if you have a friend or a colleague who you think would get value from some or all the episodes, please feel free to share the word. That's the whole point of the show, trying to make this information more accessible and spreading the information as best as we can. Our last episode was fantastic. It was an episode about social media law with one of-- or perhaps the leading expert in Canadian social media law named Maanit Zemel. Talked about a bunch of very topical issues in this area, including a new tort of online harassment. There's also some new case law about CASL, known as Canada's anti-spam legislation. And we spoke of this area called the right to be forgotten, which is something that got a lot of traction in the EU a couple of years ago and has now made its way to Canada as well. It's a great conversation.
I'm assuming that if you're listening to this, you likely have some kind of social media presence of your own in whatever quantity applies. And there's a lot in there, especially in our Ask-Me-Anything segment in terms of practical things for you to be thinking about as you are publishing content and even consuming content as well. So if you want to check that out, that's episode 73, Social Media Law with Maanit Zemel. Today's episode is a really powerful one. It's about the area of divorce law, which in Canada, I knew very little about before we started the recording. And it reminded me of something that we heard from our guests many seasons ago about the area of family law. I think he mentioned this later on in the recording, but it's an interesting reflection that divorce, in and of itself, while it's upsetting, typically does not end the relationship, but more frequently it changes the relationship in terms of how these two individuals interact with each other. And by extension, it's more of an incentive for the parties to play nice and fair and in good faith during the divorce process. And that was something that really echoed with me, especially when we were talking about the amendments from a new case file that's developing. So it's a really interesting conversation. Whether you have a direct involvement in the topic or not, I think you're going to find a lot of value-add from it. So without further ado, here is our divorce law episode with our guest Steven Benmor.
And on today's show we're very excited to have Steve Benmor. Steve is the founder of Benmor Family Law, and he's a recognized divorce lawyer, family mediator, arbitrator, speaker, writer, and educator. He's proficient in mediating high-net-worth divorces and complex financial cases with a sophisticated financial understanding and in-depth knowledge of divorce law, tax law, real estate law, corporate law, and trust law. And he's worked as lead counsel in many divorce trials, held many leadership positions in the legal community, and has been regularly interviewed on television, radio, and in newspapers as an expert in family law. Steve is also one of the only divorce professionals in Canada who is licensed and certified and accredited in all out-of-court divorce options. And in addition to his extraordinary commitment to children and families, the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario has awarded Steve his designation as a specialist in parenting coordination. And Steve is also one of Toronto's 34 certified specialists in family law, one of Canada's 51 fellows of the prestigious International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and holds a master of law in family law. So Steve, thanks for joining us on the show today.
Thank you, Husein.
Great. So we have a lot of interesting topics to speak about today in this area of divorce law. And just from my perspective, I would say that divorce law is a pretty sensitive topic, and in some cultures and for some people, it might be even a taboo topic as well. But we're really looking forward to learning a bit more about the specific area of law and some of the media issues in which you practice. So the first topic we're going to speak about is some of the new amendments to the Divorce Act. Because in early 2021, the federal government brought into force the New Divorce Act, which represents the most significant legislative change to divorce legislation in over 20 years. And these amendments were introduced in order to modernize this legislation. And we're going to discuss a bit about what the changes are and their likely impacts as well. So Steve, I know that some of the amendments adjust the language of some otherwise common family law terms or divorce law terms like custody and access. I was hoping you tell us a bit more about what these changes entail.
So in family matters, for over 20 years, people who split up would go to court and ask judges to make awards regarding custody and access of their children. So what is custody and access? Custody, by definition, meant where the children live and who makes the decisions regarding their lives. Access meant where the children spend their time with each parent.
So in the new amendments, the language around custody and access has been tweaked to make it more inclusive and to reflect the changing nature of family relationships. For example, the amendments use the term "parenting arrangements" instead of "custody" and "access", which is a more neutral term that acknowledges the complexity of family relationships. The amendments also introduce a new concept of "joint decision-making" which allows parents to make decisions together about their children's lives.
The amendments also make it clear that the court's primary concern is the best interests of the child, rather than the interests of the parents. This is a significant shift in the way that the court approaches family law cases, and it reflects a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of family relationships.
Overall, the amendments to the Divorce Act represent a significant step forward in modernizing family law in Canada. They reflect a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of family relationships, and they provide a more effective framework for resolving disputes and making decisions about children's lives.
And finally, in our Ask-Me-Anything segment, we'll chat about a bunch of topics, including prenups, negotiation strategies, and other questions submitted by our listeners. All that and a lot more is coming up in just a bit.
