Who Needs This Service?

  • Co-Habitation/Marriage Agreements

    You are planning to get married/live together and one of you has substantially more assets prior to the relationship. Alternately, one party has children from a previous relationship and wants to protect their inheritance.

  • Separation Agreements

    You and your spouse are no longer getting along and have decided to separate/divorce.

  • Divorce

    You are already separated from your spouse and now want to get divorced.

1. Co-Habitation/Marriage Agreements

Learn Something About The Law

There are 2 main statutes that govern relationships, The Family Relations Act (provincial) and the Divorce Act (federal). These statues dictate the laws with regard to marriage, separation and divorce, including common law relationships.

If you are planning to live with someone or get married and you have substantially more assets than they do, you may want to sign a co-habitation/marriage agreement (also known as a pre-nuptial Agreement). This agreement will set out which property will be owned jointly and which should be kept separate. This is especially important for those people who have children from a prior relationship who want to make sure to protect the assets for their children. When properly drafted, this type of agreement can dictate what will happen to each party if the relationship ends or one of you dies.

To Do:

  1. Provide us with a list of each party's assets and liabilities.
  2. We will need the legal names of all of the parties, including any children.
  3. Make a list of what you would like to have happen at the end of the relationship to your current assets and debts and to any that you acquire during the relationship.

2. Separation Agreements

Learn Something About The Law

When a marriage or common law relationship ends there are a number of issues that might need to be resolved. These include: child support, spousal support, child custody and access, splitting of assets and divorce. Although only a judge can grant a divorce, many of the other issues can be negotiated out of court as long as they conform to what the law says is equitable. Lawyers advise clients as to what is considered fair and help them negotiate a settlement of the issues based on their specific situation. This is then written down in a Separation Agreement and allows the couple to avoid costly litigation.

To Do:

  1. Fill out our new client family law questionnaire providing me with the names of the parties and details of the relationship.
  2. Make a list of each person's assets and liabilities.
  3. Consider what you would like to see happen with regard to child custody and access and splitting of the family assets (i.e. who will live in the family home).

3. Divorce

Learn Something About The Law

There are three grounds under which someone can apply for divorce:

  1. separation for a period of not less than 1 year,
  2. adultery, or
  3. mental or physical cruelty.

The most common way to obtain a divorce order is for one of the parties to sue the other for divorce under one of the above grounds, usually #1. In most cases the other party does not even respond to the application.

In Canada we have a "no-fault" system of divorce which means that when deciding how to deal with the issues surrounding divorce (child support, custody, etc.) the court will not take into account the grounds for the divorce. In other words, the rotten things your spouse did are not relevant to obtaining a divorce.

To Do:

The process is different depending on whether you have a signed separation agreement already or if there are outstanding issues between the parties. However, to begin, please:

  1. Fill out our family law questionnaire providing us with the names of the parties and details of the relationship.
  2. Make a list of all family assets and liabilities.
  3. Provide us with an original marriage certificate and picture of your spouse.

Did You Know?

There are child support guideline tables that outline how much is appropriate for each parent to pay for their children. It is based primarily on the income of the parties.

Contact Us

For more information about this and other family related issues, please give us a call or email.