AYAZ MEHDI Professional Corporation

09/03/2026

Two weeks ago Ontario changed how bail money works. A court has now pressed pause.

The new rules required anyone released on a promise to pay — or their surety — to deposit the full amount in cash within two business days of release. Not paying was a provincial offence.

Two legal organizations challenged the scheme, and on the last day of August a judge suspended it until the constitutional question is decided.

The evidence that mattered came from an experienced defence lawyer: almost every surety release includes a promise to pay, and requiring cash within two days makes it much harder to find willing sureties. The court accepted that if sureties won't come forward, or release waits while a family raises cash, people who are presumed innocent sit in jail. Liberty lost is never regained.

So as of now, no cash deposit requirement is in operation in Ontario. Bail works the way it has for fifty years: a promise to pay, favoured by law over a cash deposit, and cash only in exceptional circumstances with an inquiry into what a family can actually pay.

The final ruling is still to come, and this could change again. New article on the blog explains where things stand and what to raise at a bail hearing.

https://amehdilaw.com/ontario-changed-how-bail-money-works-a-court-just-pressed-pause/

08/28/2026

08/28/2026

08/24/2026

The mortgage is in default. The hydro gets cut off next week. Your first court date is in the fall.

In Ontario family court you usually cannot bring a motion until a case conference has been held. The rule exists to stop people from opening with a motion before anyone has tried to narrow the issues. But conferences get booked months out, and some problems will not wait.

There is an exception for urgency or hardship, and the person asking has to make the case for it.

What has changed is how courts think about it. Ontario’s Court of Appeal has confirmed that family violence allegations have to be engaged with wherever they bear on the question being decided, and that abuse can be a pattern with financial and psychological effects, not just a set of separate incidents. One family judge this year accepted that delay itself can be used as a weapon — stalling a sale, withholding payment, letting the bills fall behind, knowing the next court date is months off.

Another judge drew the limit weeks later. Court backlog on its own is not enough. You need the family violence on the record, and evidence the other side is driving the delay.

If something in your situation cannot wait for the ordinary court timetable, the practical answer is to be specific and early: the dates you asked for, what happens if nothing changes and when, and what the other side actually did.

Read the full article: https://amehdilaw.com/the-first-court-date-is-months-away-can-you-get-in-sooner/

08/17/2026

The judge already decided my support — isn't it final?

Often, no. Many support orders made early in a case are interim and without prejudice. They hold a fair arrangement in place until trial — they don't settle the issue for good.

Ontario courts treat an interim motion as a limited inquiry, not the full review of the evidence that belongs at trial. So an interim number can change. Whether you were unhappy with an early ruling or happy with one, it may not be the last word.

https://amehdilaw.com/isnt-it-final-why-interim-support-orders-are-provisional/

08/13/2026

08/13/2026