Ontario Lawyer Starts Clearinghouse for Information on Coronavirus and Family Law

Author

Alison Beckwith - Russel Alexander

Release Date

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

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LINDSAY, ONTARIO—Noted Ontario family lawyer Russell Alexander of Russell Alexander Collaborative Family Lawyers  has started an online clearinghouse for Ontario families struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.

On the firm’s new Covid-19 and Divorce Information Centre, people can get answers to questions about how to work remotely with their attorneys, how the pandemic may affect court dates and even how to avoid sparking a divorce during the stress of quarantine.

“The coronavirus is having massive effects on every part of society right now, and family law is no different,” said Alexander. “Given how central these questions are to your daily life, we know that they remain urgent, no matter what may be going on with the pandemic. And that’s not to mention the ways in which the virus may be exacerbating existing issues.”

Alexander, the author of the new book “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Divorce,” which is scheduled to hit shelves later this year, specializes in collaborative law, in which families seek to avoid divisive and expensive courtroom battles in favor of working out their differences together. He says it can be especially helpful at a time when families are strained.

He created the new covid-19 divorce and information centre with a regular podcast, videos and links to further information, so that the website can be easily updated as the legal system responds to the ongoing pandemic.

“The coronavirus raises a lot of tricky new questions for parents sharing custody,” he said. “For example, how do you handle a government order to stay at home when a child typically splits their time between two homes? We don’t yet know all the answers, but we will share them with our audience as we find out.”

Alexander said that legal firms have been designated by the government as an essential service, so his team remains available to serve new and existing clients. But to protect their health and safety and that of their clients, the firm staff is working remotely.


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