Child Support: Recent Cases on Determination of Income; Contempt of Parenting Issues; Child Support for Adult Children; Advocacy Tips

Justice Deborah Chappel sits in the Superior Court’s family division in Hamilton. Justice Chappel received her BA from the University of Toronto in 1986. She received her LLB from Queen’s University in 1989 and her LLM from the University of Toronto in 1991. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1992. She was a member of the Bar of British Columbia from 1996 – 2000. She was a sole practitioner since 2006. She was in-house legal counsel for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, Office of the Children’s Lawyer from 2008 – 2009. Justice Chappel was also with the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto from 1997 – 2000; the Ministry of the Attorney General of British Columbia, Family Law Group, from 1996 – 1997; and for the Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton-Wentworth from 1992 – 1996. Her main areas of practice were general matrimonial law, Child protection law, administration law, education law, major areas of tort law, Aboriginal law and law relating to institutional/government liability.

Justice Jennifer Mackinnon was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in 1999. She sits in the Family Court in Ottawa. She is the local administrative judge for the Ottawa Family Court and has held that position for more than six of the years that she has been on the bench. Justice Mackinnon has a strong track record in judicial and legal education. Combined, she has more than 100 articles and presentations on family law topics. Her articles have been published in the Canadian Family Law Quarterly, the Advocates Quarterly and the Reports of Family Law. She has been invited to present on family law topics for the National Judicial Institute, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Advocates Society, the Ontario Bar Association and the Federation of Canadian Law Societies, amongst others. Justice Mackinnon was a member of the Federal Government Advisory Committee on the Child Support Guidelines and the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines, from 1997 to 2007, and was a member of the Ontario Family Law Rules Committee, 1990 – 1999, during the development of the current Family Law Rules. Locally she has lectured at the Bar Admission Course, the University of Ottawa Law School and is a frequent speaker at County of Carleton Law Association programs. Her recent initiatives include the Ottawa Family Court Coordinated Case Management Project for high conflict custody and access cases, an Ontario wide annual Family Law Negotiation Competition, scheduled to commence in 2015, as an adjunct to the Walsh Cup Moot, and an east Region Consultation process aimed at identifying local measures to contribute to the implementation of the National Access to Family Justice Committee Report. She is a graduate of Queen’s University law school, called to the Ontario Bar in 1978, and former partner in the Ottawa law firm, Burke-Robertson LLP.