Ontario Family Court Locations
Addresses, phone numbers and hours for the Ontario courthouses that hear family matters — starting with the ones our clients actually attend, and which court hears what.
Family law
Adoption in Ontario: the general shape of the process
Adoptions in Ontario broadly fall into a few streams: public adoption through a Children's Aid Society, private adoption through a licensee, international adoption, and step-parent or relative adoptio
Adoptions in Ontario broadly fall into a few streams: public adoption through a Children's Aid Society, private adoption through a licensee, international adoption, and step-parent or relative adoption — which is the one most families in this office are asking about.
Common threads across all of them: the consents the law requires (and who is entitled to give or withhold them), an assessment of the adopting home where one is required, and a final court order that legally establishes the relationship.
Timelines vary enormously depending on the stream and on whether any consent is contested. The step-parent route is usually the most straightforward, but "straightforward" still means a court order, and it is worth getting the paperwork right the first time.
Related
Mediation vs. litigation: what the difference really costs
In litigation, a judge who will meet your family for an hour decides what happens to your children and your money, on a timeline that is frequently measured in years, on a public court file, using onl
The separation agreement checklist: what has to be settled before you sign
A complete agreement generally deals with all of the following.
Next step
Tell us what's happening. We'll tell you your options.
Call the office or send a note through the form. You'll get a straight answer about which process fits your situation, what it involves, and what happens next.