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Legal advice for family caregivers and people building families.
What Is Family Health Law™?
From before birth until after death, families interact with the health care system — not just as patients, but as the people making decisions on someone else's behalf. We use a donor because a partner is infertile, or because we're building a family without one. We make medical decisions for a child, a sibling, or a parent. We seek help when a loved one is struggling with a mental illness and refuses treatment. We decide, at the end, whether to withdraw life-sustaining treatment.
Every one of those moments has legal implications — for your rights, your responsibilities, and your options. Sometimes the relevant law is dense and hard to find; sometimes it barely exists yet. Family Health Law™ is our name for the niche we built to meet exactly that need: legal advice for families building a family, caring for one, or making decisions within one — explained in plain English, not legal jargon.
Practice Areas
Six focused areas, each with its own dedicated page covering exactly what to expect.
Surrogacy agreements, egg and sperm donor agreements, embryo donation, and parentage applications.
Learn more → Decision-MakingGuardian of property, guardian of personal care, and alternatives like Powers of Attorney.
Learn more → Everyday AdvocacyHealth care navigation, hospital discharge disputes, substitute decision-making, and long-term care rights.
Learn more → Aging & CareAccess to health services, long-term care and retirement home issues, and family mediation.
Learn more → Difficult DecisionsWithdrawing life support, medical assistance in dying, and disputes with health care providers.
Learn more → Rights & TreatmentConsent and Capacity Board hearings, substitute decision-making, and mental health crises.
Learn more →A Closer Look
A short overview of each area — visit the dedicated page for full detail, FAQs, and next steps.
Reproductive law — sometimes called fertility law — governs assisted human reproduction in Canada. There are real gaps in the legislation, few Canadian cases decided by the courts, and significant penalties for getting it wrong, which is why legal advice is essential in any case involving a surrogate or known donor. We draft surrogacy and donor agreements for our intended-parent clients, and provide independent legal advice to surrogates and donors reviewing an agreement someone else has drafted. Flat fees are available for many of these services.
Guardianship means becoming legally responsible for an adult who can no longer make their own decisions — because of dementia, a developmental disability, a serious mental illness, or another capacity challenge. There are two types: guardian of property (managing finances) and guardian of personal care (consenting to medical treatment and care decisions), and it isn't always necessary to seek both. We advise on which type actually fits your situation, help with capacity assessments, and — where it's available — the non-court statutory route instead of a full court application.
We are one of the only law firms in Canada with a dedicated focus on family caregivers — the people who show up for medications, appointments, hospital visits, and everything else, often without any legal training to fall back on. We advocate when a hospital tries to discharge a loved one unsafely, advise on Powers of Attorney duties, help families apply for guardianship, and assist with complaints to regulatory bodies like the Patient Ombudsman or the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority.
Our elder law practice focuses on access to health services, long-term care and retirement home issues, and financial and personal decision-making on behalf of a loved one. These disputes frequently involve a parent or sibling, which is part of why we try to avoid court wherever we can — it's expensive, slow, and judges are limited in what they can order. We look for negotiated, creative solutions first, while staying mindful of the family relationships that continue long after any dispute ends.
End-of-life situations carry legal, ethical, and emotional weight all at once. We advise on withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment, medical assistance in dying (MAID), disputes with hospitals or health care providers, and family conflict over care decisions — including representation at Consent and Capacity Board hearings that arise at the end of life.
Family members regularly step in as substitute decision-makers, guardians, attorneys, and advocates — often mid-crisis, with no one explaining what's actually happening. We provide legal opinions on consent and capacity matters under the Mental Health Act, the Health Care Consent Act, and the Substitute Decisions Act, negotiate directly with health providers, and represent families at the Consent and Capacity Board.
Our Approach
We're committed to helping clients create and protect their families — aiming for results without the added stress, time, and expense of court proceedings wherever possible.
We translate the health care and legal systems into plain English, so you understand your options before you decide anything.
From letters to health providers to representation at tribunals, we advocate directly on your behalf.
Where it makes sense, we coach you to advocate confidently yourself — mindful of your budget and your family's needs. We also offer self-paced online courses through Kinkeeper™ for families who want practical legal information without a one-on-one meeting.
We also offer consulting, co-counsel support, and health and fertility law advisory services for other legal practitioners.
Frequently Asked Questions
Family Health Law™ is Lisa Feldstein Law Office's name for its niche legal practice, focused on the family — whether you're building one through third-party reproduction, or caring for and making decisions within one — covering reproductive law, guardianship, caregiver law, elder law, end-of-life law, and consent and capacity law.
We practice in six focused areas: reproductive and fertility law, guardianship law, family caregiver law, elder law, end-of-life law, and consent, capacity and mental health law. We also offer consulting services for other lawyers.
No — we work with clients from all over the world. There's almost always some connection to Ontario, though, since Ontario law is what applies to most of what we do. Most of our meetings happen virtually, by phone, video, or text.
Yes. We offer flexible office hours and methods of communication, including videoconference and text message, in addition to in-person meetings.
Yes — the majority of our files are flat fee, including most fertility law matters, most guardianship applications, most advice meetings, and Powers of Attorney. Flat fees typically aren't available where there's no clear scope of work upfront, such as ongoing intermittent advice, or contested matters. Ask us at your initial consultation whether a flat fee applies to your situation.
Many family health law issues overlap — a dementia diagnosis, for example, can touch guardianship, capacity, and elder law all at once. If you're not sure where your situation fits, get in touch. We'd love to hear more about it and point you in the right direction.
Yes. In addition to one-on-one legal services, we offer self-paced online courses through Kinkeeper™, our educational platform, so families can learn the key legal concepts that apply to their situation for a fraction of the cost of a one-on-one meeting.