Alves Law

Wishing everyone a happy Father's Day from the team at Alves Law.

Whether we're dressed-up in office or dressed-down at home, our knowledgeable team at Alves Law is ready to tackle your family, criminal, and real estate legal issues.

Meet James Staines - Summer Student.

James will be working at Alves Law throughout the summer.

James graduated from Wilfrid Laurier with an Honours BA in Political Science in 2022. He is currently attending Osgoode Hall Law School and is set to graduate in 2026.

James is interested in pursuing a career in litigation and is looking forward to gaining hands-on legal experience this summer.

He enjoys playing basketball and golf and is an avid reader.

The team at Alves Law is back from our long weekend refreshed and ready to go. Our skilled lawyers and staff are here to assist you with all your family, criminal, and real estate legal needs.

Wishing everyone a relaxing and enjoyable long weekend from our team at Alves Law!

Our office will be closed Monday May 20th and will re-open Tuesday May 21st.

Happy Victoria Day!

We, at Alves Law, are armed with coffee and ready to tackle another week of work!

Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday! We hope everyone gets some quality family time and enjoys their weekend.

Happy Tuesday!!!

Our legal and life experiences uniquely qualify us to answer your questions. We represent people in various legal disputes. Call our knowledgeable staff here at Alves Law if you wish to book a consult or have any questions regarding this or any other issue. Our staff is always available and happy to help.

Rachel is a family law lawyer who joined Alves Law in 2024. She has recently transitioned her practice from Nova Scotia to Ontario.

Meet Rachel Zuliniak, Lawyer

Rachel completed an undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in 2015. Following that, she completed her law degree at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University in 2020.

Rachel enjoys working with clients to resolve parenting time, child support, and spousal support issues. She has experience in a variety of high-conflict matters and has appeared in the various levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (Family Division). Rachel’s approach to family law balances empathy, compassion, and strong advocacy for her clients.

Rachel enjoys hiking, indoor cycling, running, camping, and kayaking in her spare time.

Meet Kyle Rellinger - Legal Assistant

Kyle joined Alves Law in March of 2023 as a law school graduate.

Kyle attended the University of Guelph, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and public policy in 2018. He then proceeded to get his law degree from the University of Exeter in England in 2020.

Upon returning to Canada and navigating around the difficult times of the pandemic, he worked on qualifying his degree through the NCA exams while volunteering his time at a law firm and working at a realty office.

Looking to gain more experience in the legal field, he joined Alves law. He applied for the legal assistant position as someone who had a particular interest in Family law both from an academic and personal standpoint. He has and continues to learn the practical application of working in a law firm and the day-to-day operations.



Kyle hopes to continue expanding his knowledge and one day join the firm as a lawyer.

Meet Kelly Bennett - Office Manager / Senior Law Clerk

Kelly is our Office Manager and senior law clerk for Alves Law. Kelly has been working exclusively in the field of family law since 2013 and understands how stressful divorce and custody cases can be.

Kelly comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and office management skills. Kelly assists the firm in all aspects and manages the day-to-day administrative operations of the office. Kelly is one of our first points of contact for clients and is always there to help reach the best solution for the clients and their families as quickly as possible.

Having gone through this process herself, Kelly has a great deal of patience and empathy, which enables her to connect with clients on a meaningful level.

Kelly is a very proud wife and mother of three children. When she is not working, she spends her time with her children and husband, making memories.

Meet Wei (Sabrina) Wang, Family Lawyer

After graduating with a Ph.D. in Law from Southwest University of Political Science and Law in 2007, Wei (Sabrina) Wang got her teaching position and was later promoted to Associate Professor in China. She taught law in various subjects including family law. Sabrina did academic research on topics of family law; her publications include authored books, book chapters, translated chapters and articles. She had been an academic visitor conducting comparative studies in family law at Oxford University from 2013 to 2014.

Sabrina was qualified to practice law in mainland China in 2002. She maintains her Chinese lawyer status affiliated with Kingpound Law Firm. Sabrina is also an arbitrator of the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission in China and a member of the Council in the Marriage and Family Law Association of China Law Society. She is actively involved in public welfare initiatives from the perspective of family law.

Sabrina continued her legal career in Canada when she settled down with her family in Oakville, Ontario, in 2016. She obtained a Master of Laws degree (LLM) from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University and was called to the Ontario Bar. Sabrina has been practicing primarily in the area of family law. She represents and advises clients on all issues related to family law, including separation and divorce, parenting time and decision-making responsibility, spousal and child support, division of property, and domestic contracts.

Sabrina is strongly interested in inter-jurisdictional matters. She has experience assisting clients in settling cross-border family disputes. In complex litigations, she is a qualified expert in Chinese legal procedure and family law at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Sabrina’s working languages are English and Mandarin.

Sabrina is working towards her family mediation certifications. She adopts a friendly and pragmatic approach, seeking practical and strategic solutions for her clients. Sabrina believes that family and healthy relationships are values of life. She will cherish these values while navigating her clients’ life transitions with her enthusiasm, empathy, and skills.

We, at Alves Law are wishing everybody a weekend filled with laughter, joy and all things wonderful.

***Holiday Alert! Please be advised that our office will be closed on Friday, March 29th and Monday, April 1st.

We hope you all endulge and have some well-deserved time off with family and friends!

Meet Emma Alves, Lawyer

Emma is a lawyer who practices primarily in family law, with a smattering of criminal law, wills, and real estate for her family law clients.

Emma completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and French Translation at the University of Toronto in 2009. Emma then obtained her law degree from the University of Melbourne in 2013.

Emma was called to the bar in Alberta in 2015 and in Ontario in 2018. In addition to maintaining her credentials as a Barrister and Solicitor, Emma has been trained as a mediator (twice); once in Alberta and once in Ontario. Mediation is a different approach than advocating, and brings with it different knowledge and perspectives on family law matters. This allows Emma to navigate family law matters in a less litigious manner, if her clients so desire.

Emma likes to take a practical approach to law. While that can mean having an aggressive court battle, it always involves having ongoing discussions with her clients about cost-benefit analysis of a particular step.

Emma is experienced in all approaches to resolving family law matters, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, litigation, and trials. She can also assist clients on a limited-scope/unbundled services basis.

When it comes to the significant issues in family law, Emma has experience with:
High net worth individuals.
Self-employed clients, or clients whose opposing party is self-employed.
Clients who have experienced or been accused of inflicting, domestic violence (far too common in family law matters).
Parties who have substance abuse and mental health challenges.
Indigenous clients.
Rural clients and urban clients.
Blue-collar and white-collar clients.

What all clients have in common is a need to reach a resolution that can work for them and Emma has the skills and experience to get clients there.

The comparison to a divorce here is so apt. The uncertainty and anxiety is very true of such dissolutions. But the goal of getting it over and done with while setting emotions aside will likely be the determining factor in this being a proper "quick" divorce.

‘Massive distraction’: Torstar co-owners say focused on quick ‘divorce,’ no reconciliation

'Massive distraction': Torstar co-owners say focused on quick 'divorce,' no reconciliation The co-owners of the Toronto Star newspaper say the divorce has been a massive distraction and want to dissolve relationship quickly.

I recall first learning about residential schools in grade school and realising that it was not ancient history but something that had occurred in my lifetime. The final residential school in Canada closed in 1996!

This article highlights that "discrimination" (in quotation marks because it's not a strong enough word) continues to this day:

CBC.ca: Their newborns were taken at birth. Years later, these women still don't know why.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/birth-alerts-indigenous-women-ottawa-stories-1.6591808

Their newborns were taken at birth. Years later, these women still don't know why | CBC News Three Ottawa women say they were left traumatized after giving birth in hospitals across Canada, where child welfare authorities threatened to, or actually took their newborns away without explanation.

Both of my maternal grandparents passed away in May 2022. I cannot express how amazing the experience with the McMaster school of anatomy was!

This couple made a crucial donation to med school: their own dead bodies McMaster University students will learn from Geoffrey and Marguerite Hunt well after their passing, and the gesture makes their daughters reflect on how civic-minded the couple always was.

Librarians at it again.

This librarian made a catalogue out of all the notes readers left behind in books | CBC Radio It's been almost 10 years since a librarian in Oakland, Calif., started an online catalogue of the makeshift bookmarks readers used and left behind — and she's built up quite a collection.

Libraries hold a special place in my heart for reasons so numerous I cannot even list them. This article epitomizes more than one way that libraries serve such a significant function in our societies.

The Guardian: US library defunded after refusing to censor LGBTQ authors: ‘We will not ban the books’.

US library defunded after refusing to censor LGBTQ authors: ‘We will not ban the books’ Residents of Jamestown, Michigan, voted this week to shut down town’s library rather than tolerate certain LGBTQ books

1. How am I only just learning that the Supreme Court of Canada has it's own chef?

2. Only such an institution would have an application process for a chef's position (not knocking chefs) which involved having "to write a 2,500-word cover letter, go through written and oral exams, and finally cook for the judges".

Ottawa Citizen: Chef Yannick LaSalle to leave Les Fougères to cook for the Supreme Court of Canada's judges.

Chef Yannick LaSalle to leave Les Fougères to cook for the Supreme Court of Canada's judges Yannick LaSalle, who has worked at Les Fougères for more than a decade and became its chef five years ago, said his new job will give him a lot more family time.

It's true! The law on "custody" of pets during a separation is evolving from "they're only property and go with the owner" to something more. But what that "more" is remains unsettled l.

Who gets Fluffy? Lawyers see spike in pet custody cases as couples split under pandemic pressure | CBC News Lawyers who spoke with CBC News said they have seen pet custody cases involving reptiles, horses and even pot-bellied pigs.

I am regularly asked why a person is given many, many, many attempts to comply with court orders when there is a pattern of non-compliance and breaches. This case shows why, and, to briefly summarize, it is to ensure that once a final decision is made it is appeal proof.

This case involves a 2 year battle of non-compliance by the husband to provide financial disclosure. As a result, his pleadings were struck, his income was imputed, and the wife received a 100% interest in the matrimonial home.

This appeal decision comes just shy of 1 year after the final order was made.

Captcha | CanLII CanLII calls upon users accessing its services a large number of times to ensure that they are people and not programs acting on command. Indeed, massive downloads are prohibited by CanLII’s Terms of Use. Though your own use may be quite limited, it may have been compiled with that of others in yo...

I know this is a technical issue and probably belies some nerdiness on my part, but this case outlines why Independent Legal Advice on separation agreements is so important. One certainly does not want to be in the position of arguing about the validity of a separation agreement after the death of a (former) spouse.

Bricker v. McLeod, 2022 ONSC 3854

Captcha | CanLII CanLII calls upon users accessing its services a large number of times to ensure that they are people and not programs acting on command. Indeed, massive downloads are prohibited by CanLII’s Terms of Use. Though your own use may be quite limited, it may have been compiled with that of others in yo...

Supreme Court rules biology not a tiebreaker in child custody dispute Being a birth parent is not a tiebreaker in a custody dispute, the Supreme Court of Canada said on Friday, as it explained why it had granted full custody of a young child to his maternal grandmother instead of his father

The Globe and Mail: Opinion: What is true and what is false about the Supreme Court of Canada's extreme intoxication ruling.

Opinion: What is true and what is false about the Supreme Court of Canada’s extreme intoxication ruling The Court did not say that simply being drunk or high is enough to avoid criminal responsibility. And such misinformation can hurt survivors, and distract from achieving the real change that’s needed in the legal system

This will never not be funny ~

I know most of us aren't the same league as these celebrities but a prenup is always worth consideration. And, FYI, you can always sign one after you get married, it's just called a "marriage contract".

BuzzFeed: These Celebrities Didn't Sign Prenups — And Here's How That's Going For Them.

These Celebrities Didn't Sign Prenups — And Here's How That's Going For Them "He wanted me to sign a prenup, but I was, like, so offended."