What would you do to ensure the safety and well-being of your children? If they were facing a significant health crisis, would you drive to the hospital every day? Would you drive to Edmonton every weekend for treatment? Would you sacrifice your career? Would you risk you own life for …
Separated parents in Alberta may be entitled to receive support from the other, despite not having been married. Adult Interdependent Partner support, or support for a common law partner, can be a highly contentious issue as the payor typically feels that since they did not get married, they should not …
Navigating a separation from a spouse or a partner is often stressful, painful and confusing. There is often no end to the worries, including financial stress, concerns for children, and the desire to end the conflict without a war. An important conclusion reached by many family law professionals, including lawyers, …
Spousal support in Alberta can be a highly complex issue, as there are multiple steps and considerations to determining appropriate support, one of which is the ‘Rule of 65’. The Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines offer direction for courts in Alberta when deciding whether a party is entitled to spousal support …
The Fault Line. The Earthquake. The Fall Out Using a natural disaster analogy to describe divorce may seem needlessly theatrical. The most fortunate couples who end their relationship will do so amicably, collaboratively and with minimal trauma. However, many spouses indeed experience the ending of a relationship as an unmitigated …
Family Lawyers regularly encounter male clients who feel preemptively aggrieved by the judicial system. Some men’s advocacy groups would have you believe that court decisions in Family Law are unjustly and favourably skewed toward women. That perception is not reality. Parenting Issues When couples with children separate, the two key …
In the medical community, “triage” is the assignment of degrees of urgency to injuries to decide the order of treatment. Lawyers and Judges conduct their own version of Family Law triage to prioritize and resolve separating couple’s issues. Within the scope of the usual Family Law issues of Parenting Time/Decision-making, …
Along with the COVID-19 Pandemic have come court applications by parents seeking to change their parenting plans because of disagreements as to the other parent’s perceived lack of compliance with social distancing guidelines. A small but growing body of case law has generated common-sense principles that should be observed by …
The difference between separation and divorce is largely a legal one. Separation can apply to both married and common law couples while divorce can only apply to married couples. While you may hear phrases like “common law divorce,” there is no such thing as a common law divorce in Alberta. …
Immediately following a separation, it is normal to feel paralyzed as to what your next steps should be. As obvious as it may seem, the first step following a separation is determining that the relationship/marriage is actually done, and there is absolutely no chance of reconciliation. Once you and your …
