Once you have booked your first meeting with us, please download this form, fill it in and bring it with you.
Darlene Murphy has extensive experience in assisting clients in resolvingﾠissuesﾠincluding but not limited to:
Our Service Area Includes but is not limited to: Durham Region,ﾠNorthumberland Region, and Peel Region and the Greater Toronto Area
57 Simcoe Street S, Suite 2E
Oshawa, ON L1H 4G4
Phone:ﾠ(866) 327-6357
Information about the Durham Mediation Centre should go here.
The Durham Region Collaborative Practice is an association of trained professionals who deliver an alternative (less confrontational) approach to the customary divorce process. In Collaborative law each of the parties retain their own lawyer and pledge to resolve their issues without going to court. The Collaborative Practice makes available valuable services such as child and financial specialists, divorce coaches to provide the best possible guidance to the parties. The Durham Collaborative Practice are committed to finding ways to resolve the issues arising from the breakdown of the relationship with dignity and respect.
More information is available on the Durham Collaborative Lawyers website.
Collaborative Practice is a voluntary dispute resolution process in which parties settle without resort to litigation.
In Collaborative Practice:
1. The parties sign a collaborative participation agreement describingﾠthe nature and scope of the matter;
2. The parties voluntarily disclose all information which is relevant andﾠmaterial to the matter that must be decided;
3. The parties agree to use good faith efforts in their negotiations to reach a mutually acceptable settlement;
4. Each party must be represented by a lawyer whose representationﾠterminates upon the undertaking of any contested court proceeding;
5. The parties may engage mental health and financial professionalsﾠwhose engagement terminates upon the undertaking of any contestedﾠcourt proceeding; and
6. The parties may jointly engage other experts as needed.
Collaborative Practice provides you and your spouse or partner with the support and guidance of your own lawyers without going to court. Additionally, Collaborative Practice allows you the benefit of coaches, child and financial specialists all working together with you on your team. In Collaborative Practice, core elements form your commitments to this process, which are to:
Negotiate a mutually acceptable resolution without having courts decide issues.
Maintain open communication and information sharing.
Create shared solutions acknowledging the highest priorities of all.
Here is a link to informative books and resources on Collaborative Law.
Family Professional Services
Chestnut professionals are experienced as neutral facilitators who work with clients and other collaborative team members to prioritize the needs of each person, facilitate effective communication between you and your former spouse, set new boundaries in your relationship and minimize conflict.
Financial Services
Training and Workshops
More information about Chestnut Collaborative Solutions is available on their website.
The Ontario Collaborative Law Federation represents 18 groups of specially trained professionals across the province. Our members provide legal, family and financial support to couples during separation and divorce. This unique approach avoids the conflict and expense of going to court and promotes a family-focused resolution based upon open communication and mutual respect.
Ontario Collaborative Law Federation Mission:
The Settlement Clinic is a unique resource for those working in the family dispute resolution field. Whether you are a mediator, collaborative professional (lawyer, family or financial professional) or a settlement minded negotiation lawyer, the Settlement Clinic has something for you.
Family Dispute Resolution is the hardest work you'll ever love! It requires knowledge, skills, reflective practice and self-care. The Settlement Clinic provides resources and community. It offers ﾠqualification training, continuing education, workshops, reference materials, supports and retreats.
The Settlement Clinic offers a one year program consisting of 4 modules to help you build and grow your settlement practice. For more information, seeﾠ Growing your Settlement Practiceﾠ.
Read more about the Collaborative Divorce in Alberta Association.
If you reside in Ontario and have a family law matter before the courts. These are a list of forms that the court may require you to use and submit in a timely manner. If you have any questions about these forms we encourage you to obtain independent legal advice.
The Family Laws Rules forms are available via the Ontario Court Services Website.
If you would like to calculate spousal support or spousal and child support you can use this link. Make sure that you enter income values for both you and your spouse as well as the number of dependants.
Information about the yourlegalrights.ca should go here.
Information about the practice directions should go here.
Information about the CLEO should go here.
A child's early years - from before birth to age six - are very important. Healthy babies are more likely to develop into healthy children, and healthy children are more likely to grow up to be healthy teenagers and healthy adults.
That's the purpose of Ontario's Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program - to help children get a healthy start in life. The program does this by helping infants and children up to age six and their families through:
WINGS Maternity Home is a non-profit organization established in February 2009.ﾠ It is a safe home for young women in need of a loving & nurturing environment during their time of pregnancy and up until they are ready to move onto independent living.ﾠOur Mission is to shelter and educate homeless, pregnant and parenting young women by assisting in providing comprehensive services that empower them to make successful life decisions for themselves and their babies. ﾠOur home providesﾠfood, clothing, individual counselling and help toﾠfacilitate a way for the girlsﾠto receive medical care,ﾠchildbirth/parenting classes,ﾠmandatory participation in education at our NEST (WINGS home school), or job training,ﾠpractical life skills lessons and independent living skills training.
The OFW website offers divorced or separated parents an array of tools to easily schedule and track parenting time, share important family information, manage expenses as well as create an accurate, clear log of divorce communication
Information about the ADR Institute should go here.
Information about the ADR Institute should go here.
Information about the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario Institute should go here.
Luke’s Place can help you get through the family court process. The family court process can be confusing and frightening. There are many rules and requirements. There are forms to complete, evidence to gather and appointments to attend. For a woman who has left an abusive relationship, this can be a very hard time. Abuse does not alwaysﾠend at separation. Sometimes the abuser uses the family court process to make a woman’s life more difficult and more dangerous.
All our services for abused women are free. Luke’s Place gives women access to legal support workers and Family Court Support Workers (who can go with you to court and to lawyer appointments), a Pro Bono Summary Advice Clinic, Group Sessions (that provide peer support, legal information, and tips on the family law system). They also have a resource library that can provide you with material on a variety of issues that women face when they leave an abusive relationship.
More information available on the Luke's Place website.
Herizon House is a shelter for abused women and their children and serves the Durham and Clarington Regions. They are committed to ending the cycle of abuse and violence in the community. If you need help Herizon House encourages you to call them at 1-866-437-4066. Herizon House provides temporary shelter to abused women and their children, supportive counselling, advocates on behalf of women and children, and educates the public about the issue of violence against women and their children.
Herizon House is a not-for-profit, charitable organization.
Since its inception in 1992 Bethesda House is proud to have evolved from simply a shelter for abused women and their children to a well-known and respected agency providing a comprehensive system of professional supports that are an integral part of our community’s continuum of services to victims of domestic abuse.
Main Business Number: 905-623-6045
Bethesda House is located in Bowmanville, Ontario
The Denise House offers a variety of programs to the women and children who are in need of our services. Denise House offers 24 hour crisis intervention, emergency accommodation and room and board, counselling services for abused women, a children’s program, information and referral services, non-resident counselling services, transitional support services (to help women find affordable housing in the community once they leave the shelter). The Denise House is located in Oshawa.
905-728-7311 or 1-800-263-3725
It is a free anonymous and confidential 24-hour crisis line that is available to all women in the province of Ontario who have experienced any form of abuse. The women’s helpline provides crisis counselling, safety planning, emotional support, information and referrals accessible 7 days a week 365 days a year.
Legal Aid Ontario promotes access to Justice throughout Ontario for low income individuals by providing consistently high quality legal aid services in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
More information is available on the Legal Aid Ontario Website.
Download Forms for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer
The Office of the Children's Lawyer (OCL) represents children under the age of 18 in court cases involving custody and access, child protections, and wills and trusts cases. The OCL employs both lawyer and social workers who work for a fee for service basis across Ontario. The social workers or clinicians also prepare reports for the court and assist the lawyers who are representing the children. Sometimes the court needs independent information about the child's needs, wishes and interests and asks the Children's Lawyer to help. The Children's Lawyer determines what services, if any, will be provided, and can assign:
More information is available on the Office of the Children's Lawyer website.
If your marital status changes and you need to notify the Canada Revenue Agency follow this link for more information:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/rc65/README.html
If you would like information about the Universal Childcare Benefit or the Canadian Child Tax Benefit follow this link:
This link is to a basic Child-support calculator.
If you have a current court order and you are receiving or paying child support or spousal support you can obtain more information about the Family Responsibility Office from this website.
Information about the Department of Justice Canada should go here.
More information is available on the Durham Regional Police Victim Services Unit website.
The John Howard Society of Durham Region (JHS) is a non-profit, social service agency in Ontario Canada. We are dedicated to servicing individuals and families, youth and adults with programs and services in areas such as relationships, counselling, employment, literacy, housing, eviction prevention, crime prevention, harm reduction, parenting and more. Most of our services are free.
The Clinic was established in 1985 Legal Aid to provide low income residents of Durham Region quality legal services in a convenient central location.
Clinic hours:
Monday - Friday
8:30 am - 12:00 pm;
and 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm
More information available on the Durham Community Legal Clinic website.
Frontenac Youth Services is a non-profit organization that provides services and programming for youth in Durham Region who experience mental health concerns. Unfortunately, we can only help a handful of kids at a time with our current resources. Help us provide hope, treatment, and connection for our community’s most vulnerable adolescents. Even small contributions make a big difference.
To work with young parents in Durham Region by providing supportive programming so they may build a better future for themselves and their children. The Rose of Durham provides individual counselling services, a Teen-Mom School program, prenatal classes, and parent support groups.
Oshawa - Main Branch
200 Bond St. W., Oshawa
Phone: 905-432-3622
Fax: 905-432-3974
Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00am-4:30pm
Caring Dads works with fathers who have abused and neglected their children or exposed them to abuse of their mothers. They offer intervention to fathers, train communities (in Canada and the USA) in engaging, assessing and intervening with high risk men and conduct research on how to improve their practice. The Caring Dad’s program is a 17-week program that is offered on a sliding scale at $20 to $70 per session. The program is broken down into 3 components:
1. The Fathering Group which includes parent education, cognitive behavioural therapy, and explaining developmental stages of children etc.
2. Mother Contact which ensures women are informed about the program and refers mothers to community resources. Caring Dad’s also helps mothers create a safety plan for themselves and their children.
3. Caring Dads also provides Collaborative Case Management for the entire family.
The Child Care Fee Subsidy Program helps qualifying families cover the cost of licensed child care for children up to the age of 12.
The Children's Services Division provides child care fee subsidy to eligible families in Durham Region. In order to apply, parents or legal guardians must be working, attending school, or receiving Ontario Works benefits while participating in an approved activity, or they must have a recognized need for themselves or their child.
To apply for child-care subsidy, you must fill out anﾠonline applicationﾠor call the Children's Services Division Central Office at 905-666-6238 or toll-free at 1-800-387-0642. The Intake Clerk will obtain basic information, and your family will be placed on the wait list.
The George Hull Centre is located in Toronto and Etobicoke.
It is a children’s mental health centre that serves children from birth to age eighteen and their families. The Centre has social workers, child and youth workers, teachers, Early Childhood Educators, Speech and Language Pathologists, communication disorder assistants, psychologists, and psychiatrists. The Centre offers individual and group counselling, residential services (Libby’s Place and The Boys House), day treatment facilities, and the George Hull Ontario Early Years Centre (for children between the ages of birth and age six). The Group counselling sessions that George Hull provides includes anxiety support group for parents, anxiety group for children, Teen talk for girls, and a workshop for parents with challenging children.
The Durham Children's Aid Society provides a range of services to the community, including:
Address: 1320 Airport Boulevard, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7K4
905-433-1551
Text about AFCC Resources for families should go here.
The Law Society regulates Ontario lawyers and paralegal licensees in the public interest.
We ensure that these individuals:
The onlineﾠLawyer and Paralegal Directoryﾠis useful if you have the name of a lawyer, but you want to know how to contact him or her
You can useﾠtheﾠLaw SocietyﾠReferral Serviceﾠto help you find a lawyer near you.
TheﾠLawyer and Paralegal Directoryﾠcan help you find a specific paralegal, if you know his or her name. You can also use the directory to search by city.
You can useﾠtheﾠLaw SocietyﾠReferral Serviceﾠto help you find a paralegal near you.
For more information visit the Law Society of Upper Canada website.
TheﾠLaw Society Referral Serviceﾠ(LSRS) fills an important community need by connecting people looking for legal assistance with a lawyer or paralegal. If you're looking for a lawyer referral service or paralegal referral service,LSRSﾠcan help. For anything from dealing with a traffic ticket to buying your first home, you can find a legal representative with LSRS.
When you request a lawyer or paralegal referral online, we will give you the name of a lawyer or licensed paralegal who will provide a free consultation of up to 30 minutes to help you determine your rights and options, provided we have a match available.
With the Internet increasingly playing a role in making justice more widely accessible, the Law Society Referral Service makes it possible to obtain referrals online, 24 hours a day.
You can start the process of obtaining a lawyer referral or paralegal referral atﾠ www.lawsocietyreferralservice.ca.
Please note: LSRS is unable to identify lawyers or paralegals who will work on a contingency basis or do work for free on a pro bono basis.
The Canadian Law List is a search engine that will help you find lawyers in your area.
We are a professional association providing continuing education, fellowship and networking for its members. ILCO was incorporated in May 1968 for the purpose of providing and organized network for the promotion of unity, cooperation and mutual assistance among Law Clerks in Ontario. ILCO strives to advance and protect the status and interests of the profession. In addition, it is the mandate of ILCO to provide and promote general and legal education to its members for the purpose of increasing their knowledge, efficiency and professional ability.
A family law information centre is located in the Durham Region Courthouse on 150 Bond Street East, Oshawa, Ontario L1G 0A2.
Each family court location has the following resources and services available:
More information is available on the Family Law Information website
Information about the Daily Court List should go here.
Bev has been a practicing licensed psychotherapist for over 28 years. She received her Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Toronto in 1982 and has been a member of the College of Professional Social Workers since its inception. Having studied in New York City at the Institute for Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (R.E.B.T.)with Dr. Albert Ellis in the mid-90’s, she is certified in R.E.B.T., a form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and uses it when working with clients. Bev presently co-ordinates a successful Private Practice entitled "The Centre for Constructive Thinking" working with adults, adolescents and children to help them re-construct their thoughts and learn to think positively about their life. She has received both Levels 1, 2 and Team training in Collaborative Practice as a "Family Professional". She appreciates the Collaborative approach to Family Law as it takes families away from litigation and assists them in finding resolve in a more productive, cohesive, long term sense using often a team approach. Bev has been conducting Custody and Access assessments since 1989, is trained in Family Mediation, Parenting Capacity Assessments and Child Welfare Assessments. Bev has an expertise in working with both men and women individually and couples. She has also worked extensively with adolescents and children, and has practiced group therapy in the areas of child sexual abuse and domestic violence to name a few. She has presented workshops and trainings in domestic violence and has been one of the trainers in the Durham Police Investigators Course on domestic violence. She is a member of the Board of Directors for "Collaborative Practice Durham Region".
For more information please contact Bev LeMay at 905-903-1040 or email her at bev.lemay@sympatico.ca
Dr. Fountain is a registered psychologist located in North Oshawa. She treats clients from infancy to adulthood. She specializes in children’s treatment programs which includes play therapy, group therapy, therapeutic tutoring and day programs throughout the summer months. Her psychological assessment services span a broad range of areas that cover clinical, school, rehabilitation, and legal services.
The Catholic Family Services of Durham Region provides counselling services to individuals, couples, and families and by working with groups of people who share a common problem. Examples of the programs that they provide are Safer Families (which works to try and reduce the number of families that are involved in the child welfare system for domestic violence), Parenting After Violence (a concurrent program for women who have been abused and their children who have witnessed the violence), Healing Hearts (for young girls who have disclosed sexual abuse), The Dads Group (to help build new skills and strategies for parenting), CART (Communication and relationships for Teens), Family Life Education Groups (which provide skills based seminars to support families and individuals). Clients are asked to pay fees on a sliding scale, but no-one is ever denied service due to inability to pay.
We now have offices in Oshawa, Ajax, and Port Perry.ﾠContact us at 905-725-3513 or Toll Free: 1-877-282-8932
Family Services provides short-term, solution-focused individual, couple, family and group counselling to residents of Durham Region. It participates in social and community development activities that benefit children, families and residents of the region. Family Services provides counselling services to children age 6 or older.
Family Services provides counselling for a number of issues, such as:
Job stress, Trauma, Workplace violence and/or conflict, Substance abuse, Anger, Anxiety, Depression, Personal stress, Budgeting, Self-esteem, Bereavement, Communication, Conflict resolution, Extended family, Separation/Divorce, Abuse/Violence, Child-care, parenting, behaviour and school problems, Addiction, Balancing work and family life, Caring for elderly parents.
Family Services’ﾠCentralizedﾠIntake Lineﾠ(905-666-6240 or toll-free at 1-866-840-6697) operates from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, from the Whitby/Main (Regional Headquarters) office location.
Information about the Kinark should go here.
Information about the Rainbow Program should go here.
If you would like to retain Clayton to give you legal advice, please send an e-mail or call during regular business hours. Until Clayton specifically agrees to act for you on your matter, you should not provide any confidential information or material. Unsolicited information and material will not be treated as confidential, and will not be protected by any lawyer-client privilege.