New Mortgage Rules in Effect

Ottawa is changing mortgage rules again to make it more difficult for Canadians with limited savings to buy homes, or obtain loans.

As of June 21, 2012, these are the new changes to mortgage rules:

#1)  The amortization period on a mortgage will be dropped from the current 30 years to 25 years.
The amortization period is the estimated number of years it will take to pay off your mortgage entirely. The longer your amortization is, the lower your mortgage payments will be, but the higher the total amount of interest you'll pay over the life of the mortgage

#2) The government is limiting refinancing loans to 80 per cent of the value of a home, from the current 85 per cent.

#3) You will need to have a 20% down payment to purchase a home worth more than $1 million or have to seek private insurance.

View the CBC News report on the new mortgage changes.

The Beauty of Our Province/La Belleza de Nuestra Provincia

Ontario in all its splendour.

Ontario couples must attend information session before divorce- The Globe and Mail

From The Globe and Mail article by Mark Brownlee:

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Starting Monday, every Ontario couple hoping to end their marriage will have to attend an information session on alternatives to going to court before getting a divorce.
The new rules will help alleviate some of the pressure on Ontario's family court system and will save those hoping to get divorced time and money, said Chris Bentley, the province's attorney general.
 “Going to court and having a court battle in family proceedings can be enormously costly, take a lot of time and probably most significantly be very emotionally damaging to children and to the two individuals,” he said.
Couples will have to attend the information session before they can file a divorce case in court.

If they still insist on going to court after that, they will then be given the option to attend a mediation session organized by the attorney general's office to try settling their differences.
Couples will now be able to attend the mediation session at any family court across the province for free. They would have needed to pay it for themselves before the changes were introduced.
Despite the two-step process, some in the legal community think the initiative isn't as effective as it could be.
Judith Huddart, a family lawyer and president of the Ontario Collaborative Law Federation, said the sessions don't advise those considering divorce about their options early enough in the process.
“I know how frustrating it can be for people to be told that they have other options after they've already hired a lawyer and started forward in a litigation route,” she said.
While Ms. Huddart supports making the program mandatory at all courts, she said providing more information for couples when they are first thinking about divorce would be an even more effective way to get the cases out of provincial courtrooms.
The new program will only reach those who have begun the process of going to court, she said.
Ms. Huddart estimated just getting to a first court hearing will often cost around $5,000 in lawyer's fees.
The province has been trying to fix that pricey problem by making more information about alternatives to divorce proceedings available online, said Mr. Bentley.
He added that he doesn't expect the new program will save his office or the courts any money.
The program is directed specifically towards saving time and legal fees for couples hoping to get divorced, he said – although he hasn't been able to quantify those savings yet.
The attorney general's office will spend an extra $5.3-million a year making the program mandatory at all courts, bringing the total cost of the initiative to $8-million a year.
Those extra costs did not come from any additional funding from the provincial government, Mr. Bentley said. His office was able to redirect money from finding efficiencies in the other areas for which his office is responsible.

The Canadian Press

¿Qué sabes de derecho familiar en Ontario?

  Lo que usted debe saber sobre derecho de familia en Ontario

Aquí encontrará mucha información para ayudarte con el tema de derecho de familia en nuestra provincia.

Families Will Benefit From Justice Improvements

December 9, 2010 9:30 AM

McGuinty Government Making Legal System More Affordable And Straightforward

Affordable, faster and less confrontational — that's the new direction for family law in Ontario.

By next summer, families across the province will have access to improved services through Ontario's courts.

Ontario is increasing access to justice by expanding valuable services to all court locations. Families will soon have access to:

• The Mandatory Information Program that offers more options for families experiencing breakdown and helps them learn about the effects of separation and divorce.
• The Family Mediation Service that helps families identify challenges and work out solutions outside the courtroom, which saves parents money.
• Information and Referral Coordinators who will refer families to community agencies that can help them resolve challenges earlier and at less cost.

The new approach to settling family disputes will help more Ontario families avoid the courtroom in favour of an early, affordable, out-of-court resolution.

This is part of the government's Open Ontario plan to make the family justice system more straightforward, focused and affordable, and to provide accessible and consistent family justice services for all Ontarians.

QUICK FACTS

• The Mandatory Information Program was piloted in Milton, Brampton and Toronto and will be available in 17 additional courts by April 2011 and the remainder of the courts by summer 2011.
• The Family Mediation Service and Information and Referral Coordinators are currently available in 17 Family Courts locations and will be made available in the remainder of Ontario's courts by summer 2011.
• Approximately 160,000 people use Ontario's family courts each year.

Link to Ministry of Attorney General website