Canada’s Divorce Act provides for retroactive spousal support with direction as to calculating duration and quantum of support from the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines . When spouses, common law or married, separate it commonly provokes a financial or economic crisis. Combined incomes paying for household, family, and personal expenses are now stretched to providing for
Before cohabitation, open a frank dialogue: If you earn different incomes and hold incomparable assets or expect a large inheritance or wealth transfer, schedule time to discuss economic expectations and opportunities with each other. Learn your legal rights and obligations before the moving date. Due diligence is a two sided issue: If you hold a
“Consider yourself served!” A stranger approaches you, confirms your name, and hands you a stack of papers. You’ve just been served with an Application for Divorce and the supporting documents. Here’s some basic information to help you understand some of the documents. Common features of each Ontario court document: the centre top of the front
Unique to each family: Each member’s needs and desires should be taken into account: running the family business and involving the older children to ensuring younger children have stimulating after school programs and optimum sports involvement to further develop their skillset. Parenting plans are more than mimicking another family’s schedule. Make it wholly relevant to
My earlier post Drafting Your Own Separation Agreement, Really? (Nov 2013) set out the basic elements of a separation agreement. Here are the highlights from that post: The legislated formal requirements: Each domestic contract must be in writing, signed by the two signatories and witnessed and dated. Revisions or a subsequent agreement must also meet
Aside from how ownership was taken in the matrimonial home, the Ontario Family Law Act, section 19 provides that “both spouses have an equal right to possession of the matrimonial home” upon separation. This right continues until the divorce order or an annulment is granted. The right can be extended by separation agreement or court
How satisfied are family law or divorce clients using the different processes available to them? Let’s compare client experiences and people’s satisfaction under each process within the various family law approaches: the Litigation / family court process, the Collaborative approach to family law, and the Mediation process to family law by considering the available literature
Understanding the emotional response: Overwhelming, emotional, empowering or devastating? Welcoming support means receiving non- judgmental empathy, understanding, and perhaps silence? For those seniors who were not welcoming this new found single status, you may seek a renewed confidence to be able to find strength in a suddenly new world. Normalizing the event brings calm. Financial
This is a continuation of Fact or Fiction? Family Law Separations Part I. Here we look myths relating to the family business, using emotion to get what you want, and inflating a personal budget to influence support entitlement. The short answer to the question is it a myth is followed by some preliminary questions to
Clients may convince themselves of the accuracy of the information they receive from a friend at the gym or an erstwhile cousin who have already taken the emotional journey of separation and divorce. Their pronouncements about how child support is calculated or the entitlement thresholds for spousal support may be well intentioned yet perhaps not
My earlier blog on Designing a Parenting Plan addressed the nuts and bolts of developing a child-focussed, viable, and flexible family plan. Typically there will be a provision in the event a dispute arises and cannot be resolved between the parents. Before reaching the point of turning to a stranger to find a solution, here
Parents are familiar with the different categories of costs their children incur at any early age, as a teenager, and as an adult child entering post secondary educational program. When the family is intact, the expenses are often paid from a joint account. When a couple separates, who pays the child support, how much, and
