Loading...
Whether you were cohabiting with a partner or spouse, or married to your husband or wife, following a separation there are often many family law legal issues that require a resolution before you are able to freely move forward with your life. The issues vary from couple to couple or from family to family but often including decision-making authority and parenting time for children, child support, special and extraordinary expenses, spousal support, property division, the sale of family property such as a family home, the equalization of family property, and addressing beneficiary designations of extended health benefit plans and life insurance policies.
There are options when it comes to resolving these legal issues. The first step is attempting to negotiate the issues with the assistance of each of your respective counsel, or, alternatively, with a neutral third party mediator. There are many experienced mediators that have been helping families for years and that are able to effectively help narrow and/or resolve the issues. Separated parties may also proceed with other available options, such as collaborative family law or arbitration. It may even be necessary to proceed with litigation should you require court intervention to help address and determine specific issues, such as ordering the sale of a matrimonial home, relocating with children, or ordering a parent to financially support children or the other spouse.
At Stanley Family Law, client satisfaction is our top priority and our mandate is to apply our professional skill set to resolve our client's legal issues in both a cost effective and time efficient manner. We place a large emphasis upon the negotiation process when drafting agreements. Whether it be by way of telephone conference calls or negotiation meetings, it is our objective to focus on settling all of the live issues so that we can draft the resolution into a written agreement. Once the agreement is consented to and executed by both parties, the agreement can be filed with the local court for enforcement or to assist with obtaining a divorce. We recommend that you contact us and book a consultation with one of our lawyers to learn more about your options and to learn about which process may be best for your case.
In Canada, divorce proceedings involve of a multi step process that requires the completion, service, and submission of a divorce application and affidavit of divorce. For a simple uncontested divorce, the divorce application must be filed with the court and served upon the other spouse who then has up to 30 days to contest the divorce (for example, there may be legal issues that the other spouse may wish to bring to the court's attention for intervention purposes such as child support or property division). If the divorce remains uncontested, then after the 30 day time interval has run its course, the affidavit for divorce may be filed with the court which initiates the process of finalizing the divorce. This process may take several weeks or several months as it depends largely on how busy the court is and whether there is a backlog at the court. Once the court has issued the divorce order, the divorce takes legal effect 31 days from the date of the order.
The divorce process can be straight forward but often complications arise when the spouses applying for divorce have unresolved legal issues which pertain to the children. If such issues arise then the divorce process may be 'stayed' until the outstanding issues have been resolved. It is important to ensure that if you intend to file for dicorce, you do not take steps to prejudice your case. If you have questions or concerns, we recommened that you book a consultation to speak with one of our lawyers.