Family Law
Family law lawyers assist individuals, couples and families with legal matters arising from their separation such as parenting, decision-making authority, child support, spousal support and the division of property and/or equalization of net family property.
Family law lawyers can also guide and assist the parties in filing for a Divorce with the Court. The process of separation or divorce can be tumultuous and may result in resentment and hostility if not handled with care. This is why it’s a good idea to seek legal advice from an experienced Family Law that specializes in supporting families through these difficult situations.
Family law lawyers can also assist individuals with the following services:
• Simple Divorce
• Separation Agreements
• Marriage Contracts
• Cohabitation Agreements
• Child and Spousal Support
• Decision-making (custody)
• Parenting Time (Access)
• Property Division
• Business valuations
• Common-law relationships
• Child Protection (CAS) cases
• Collaborative Law
• Family Mediation
• Family Court Cases
Oak Law provides incredible depth, knowledge, and experience across a broad range of family law issues. The firm is skilled in handling the most complex family legal matters.
Family Law Cases
- There were just over 275,000 family law cases active in the 10 provinces and territories reporting to the Civil Court Survey in fiscal year 2019/2020.
Family Law By Numbers
- Divorce applications (39%).
- Cases with custody/access issues (16%);
- Cases with support issues (7%);
- Cases seeking protection (17%);
- Other family cases such as adoptions and estate matters (17%),
- Cases where the family law issues were not identified (4%) made up the total active family caseload.
- Family cases were more active in the courts in 2019/2020 compared to non-family cases. Family cases reported an average of 11 court events per case, while non-family cases reported 6.
Legal Research is Key
The first step for a lawyer is to meet with the client and identify the relevant facts. This will help to determine the legal issues that must be researched.
Strategic research will provide a crucial analytical foundation that will inform the legal advice to be given to a client for the remainder of the case. If this step is not done, or done too late, the client will undoubtedly suffer.
Knowing the applicable legal test to be applied is like a crystal ball. Caselaw allows lawyers to predict how a court will rule upon a particular case. A good lawyer will have applied the legal test long before appearing in court.
Benefits of Mediation
Mediation is a process that involves third party intervention (for example, a mediator) to help resolve major points of contention between two or more parties. In a family law context, Mediators are neutral and are jointly retained by the disputing parties. They do not provide legal advice. Rather, they understand the concerns of both sides and propose constructive settlement solutions.
The benefits of mediation are many:
- Faster – Mediation moves faster to settlement than the traditional family court system
- Relationships – Mediation is far less adversarial than the court system which often destroys families
- Cost – The cost of mediation is less expensive than motions and trials in court
- Privacy – Mediation is private and confidential whereas courts are public and decisions may be publicly available
Female vs. Male Applicants
how can we help you?
Contact us at the Consulting WP office nearest to you or submit a business inquiry online.
We were thoroughly impressed with this young man’s work. He’s very down to earth and quietly got the job done.
