--- title: "Farah Ghilane ✦ Associate ✦ Goldwater Droit" meta: "og:description": "Connect with Me Farah Ghilane, a skilled family and criminal law associate at Goldwater Droit, known for her sensitive approach to complex legal matters." "og:title": "Farah Ghilane ✦ Associate ✦ Goldwater Droit" description: "Connect with Me Farah Ghilane, a skilled family and criminal law associate at Goldwater Droit, known for her sensitive approach to complex legal matters." --- ![Farah Ghilane](https://goldwaterdroit.com/_vercel/image?url=%2F_composites%2Fv1%2Fprofile%2Ffarah-ghilane%2Fportrait@2x.webp&w=1280&q=100) ###### Our Team # Farah Ghilane [Email](https://goldwaterdroit.com/mailto:fg@goldwaterdroit.com) [**Book Now**](https://book.goldwaterdroit.com#book/service/32) [Email](https://goldwaterdroit.com/mailto:fg@goldwaterdroit.com) [**Book Now**](https://book.goldwaterdroit.com#book/service/32) - ###### Bar Admission - Quebec, 2017 - ###### Education - LL.B., Université de Montréal, 2015 - ###### Languages Spoken - English, French - ###### Groups & Associations - The Family Law Lawyers Association (AAADFQ) ##### Practice Areas - [Family Law](https://goldwaterdroit.com/en/services/family-law) - [Divorce & Separation](https://goldwaterdroit.com/en/services/divorce-separation) - [Parenting, Custody & Access](https://goldwaterdroit.com/en/services/parenting-custody-access) - [Asset & Property Division](https://goldwaterdroit.com/en/services/asset-property-division) - [International Child Custody & Hague Convention](https://goldwaterdroit.com/en/services/international-child-custody) - [Religious Divorce & Faith-Based Marriage](https://goldwaterdroit.com/en/services/religious-divorce-faith-based-marriage) - [Marriage & Cohabitation Agreements](https://goldwaterdroit.com/en/services/marriage-cohabitation-agreements) **Farah Ghilane** is an Associate at Goldwater Droit, where her practice covers family law and criminal defence. She appears regularly before the Superior Court and the Court of Québec in divorce and separation proceedings, custody and access disputes, spousal and child support, asset division, international custody, and the negotiation of marriage and cohabitation agreements. Her family trial record includes custody modifications following a parent's cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic (where the Court held the opposing party was pleading "sa propre turpitude"), judgments applying the "théorie des petits pas" to establish shared custody in gradual stages, orders requiring a parent to relocate within 25 kilometres of a chosen school, and safeguard rulings in families with international dimensions involving proposed relocations to France and multi-child alienation allegations. She has also obtained rulings authorizing the addition of a father's surname to a child's name and has litigated provisions for costs and damages tied to alleged abusive conduct between parents. Alongside her family practice, Farah takes on criminal mandates, including offences against the person, domestic violence, fraud, mischief, shoplifting, and impaired driving. She works with families whose civil and criminal files intersect, often when allegations raised in a family dispute generate parallel police or Crown proceedings, and she coordinates strategy across the two tracks so that disclosure, release conditions, and no-contact orders align with the pending custody, support, or separation file in Superior Court. Me Ghilane is known for handling delicate family matters with sensitivity, offering strong legal support while remaining attentive to the emotional weight her clients carry. Clients value her ability to build trust, listen closely, and guide them through every stage of the process — from initial consultation to resolution, whether by agreement or at trial. Colleagues and opposing counsel recognize her for her thoroughness, sharp legal insight, sound strategic judgment, skilled negotiation, and exceptional advocacy in the courtroom. Before joining Goldwater Droit in 2023, she spent nearly five years at a family law firm, developing her litigation practice and later serving as director of one of the firm's business offices. She earned her LL.B. from the Université de Montréal in 2015 and joined the Quebec Bar in 2017, and is a member of the Quebec Family Law Lawyers Association (AAADFQ). She works in French and English. If not a lawyer, she would have been a journalist, because she has a knack for asking the right questions, listening closely, and turning facts into a clear and compelling story. ##### LITIGATION & PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS - [_Droit de la famille — 25655 (2025)_](https://canlii.ca/t/kcgj2) - Counsel for the father in a safeguard order concerning a cross-border dispute regarding two young children born of a recent separation where the father sought authorization to relocate to France with the children. - [_Droit de la famille — 211009 (2021)_](https://canlii.ca/t/jgcj9) - Counsel for the defendant father in a modification of a 2014 custody order concerning a 9-year-old child. The father sought shared custody after demonstrating that the mother had used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to obstruct his access between March and May 2020. The Court applied the "théorie des petits pas" (gradual approach) and ordered progressively expanding access leading to full week-on/week-off shared custody by December 2021. - [_Droit de la famille — 211557 (2021)_](https://canlii.ca/t/jhk3t) - Represented the father seeking shared custody of a 6-year-old child and modification of the child's surname. The Court found the mother's attitude “clearly not in the child’s interest,” noting she blocked telephone access, refused Father's Day visits, and made unilateral decisions. The Court ordered a gradual implementation of shared custody (week-on/week-off by December 2021) and authorized adding the father's surname to the child's name. A comprehensive 20-page judgment and a major victory on all fronts — custody, name change, and financial issues. - [_Droit de la famille — 202116 (2020)_](https://canlii.ca/t/jcgr7) - Counsel for the plaintiff mother in a safeguard application involving an international marriage and cross-border family dispute regarding three children, including an eldest child (age 13) who was not the mother's biological child. - [_Droit de la famille — 207511768 (2020)_](https://canlii.ca/t/j859w) - Co-counsel for the plaintiff father seeking to modify custody arrangements following the mother's multiple relocations. A comprehensive 22-page judgment addressing custody, schooling, communication between parents, and third-party involvement in exchanges. A significant win preserving shared custody and the child's stability. - [_Droit de la famille — 192205 (2019)_](https://canlii.ca/t/j357h) - Counsel for the defendant father in a custody and child support dispute involving a 6-year-old child. The mother sought full custody, a provision for costs, and damages for alleged abusive conduct. The Court granted parenting time for the father, reduced the father's child support obligation, and the mother's claims for a provision for costs and $10,000 in damages were both rejected.