528 Victoria Avenue (1st floor) Windsor, ON N9A 4M8
Family and Estate Law
Family Dispute Resolution Services
Our Legal Services
Family Law
KLH Law practices all aspects of family law including adoption, child protection, divorce, parenting (custody & access), domestic contracts (including marriage contracts, separation agreements, parenting agreements and the like), child & spousal support, Family Responsibility Office enforcement cases (for payors), property division, partition & sale of matrimonial property, and independent legal advice.
Kristen has extensive experience dealing with both negotiation of agreements as well as litigation, and provides her clients with the option of selecting the process that best suits their family law needs.
Kristen offers unbundled services in addition to standard representation, providing self-represented litigants with the opportunity to have an experienced lawyer draft their documents and provide coaching services where required.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
There are a variety of Alternative Dispute Resolution options now being utilized in the family law context. Collaborative Family Law processes involve hiring counsel who are qualified to assist, and clients agreeing not to commence court proceedings. The parties and their lawyers meet to discuss options for resolution of their family law issues, and together develop a mutual plan. Mediation is usually handled by a facilitating mediator who will meet with the parties together and work with them to achieve resolution. Arbitration occurs when parties require the intervention of a private court-like process, where they put their case forward and the arbitrator makes a decision as to what the outcome will be.
Kristen is qualified as a Collaborative Family Lawyer, and is in the process of becoming an accredited Family Mediator and accredited Family Arbitrator. She also has experience providing clients with Parenting Coordination services.
Estate Law
Kristen provides estate planning services such as wills, powers of attorney for property and personal health care, and trust documents, as well as estate administration services. She is available to assist in drafting documents, managing estate administration, as well as providing estate litigation services if necessary.
Private Child Advocacy
Kristen has represented children through the Office of the Children’s Lawyer for over 17 years, 2001-2006, 2008-present. In addition to her work through the OCL, she also provides parents with the option of having a private advocate to represent their children at court, mediations, collaborative family law processes, and arbitrations, in cases where the OCL is not involved or where there is an urgent need to have the children’s views and preferences before the court. She can tailor the private child advocacy process to best suit the needs of the family requesting same, whether by way of a full investigation or an abbreviated process as required.
Get to Know Kristen
20+ years of experience
Kristen graduated in 1991 from the University of Toronto, Trinity College with her Bachelor of Arts (English & Anthropology), then went on to the University of Windsor Law School where she graduated in 1994. She articled at Lerner & Associates in London, Ontario, and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1996. She was an associate at Barat & Associates in Windsor, Ontario for two years, and then opened a practice in association with Deborah-Lynn Gibson, Gibson & Hales in 1998. In 2006, she opened a new practice under the name Hales, Beaumont with Sheila Beaumont, however, shortly thereafter, she was recruited by the Windsor-Essex Children’s Aid Society to be Lead Counsel for their in-house legal department. She remained there until 2008, when she left to joint Stipic, Arpino, Weisman LLP (later Stipic, Weisman LLP) as an associate. In 2016, she opened her own private practice, Kristen L. Hales, B.A., LL.B. in the areas of family & estate law.
Kristen was appointed to the personal rights panel of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer in 2001, until 2006 when she left private practice, and again in 2008. She represents children in all aspects of family law cases, including adoptions, child protection cases, divorce and parenting issues. She recently began offering private child advocacy to assist families unable to access the services of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, or for emergency matters.
Kristen has also completed her Collaborate Family Law training in 2010, and is a member of Windsor’s Collaborative Family Law Group. She completed her Mediation training in 2011. She is currently working on becoming an accredited Family Mediator as well as an accredited Family Arbitrator.
In 2011, Kristen was appointed a Deputy Judge of the Superior Court of Justice Small Claims Court, a position she continues to hold. As a Deputy Judge, she handles settlement conferences, motions, debtor/creditor examinations, trials and other such duties.
In 2016, Kristen became a sessional instructor at St. Clair College, where she teaches “Advocacy” for the paralegal program candidates. It has been her great pleasure to have been invited to the college to swear in candidates who have completed their licensing requirements as paralegals on behalf of the Law Society of Ontario.