Canadian Lawyer

42 M A r C h 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m at any age but for those over 55 it can be compounded by the demands of loom- ing retirement and any plans that had been made leading up to retirement, says Julia Cornish, of Sealy Cornish Coulthard in Dartmouth, N.S. She is seeing an increasing number of clients married more than 25 years seeking divorce. "Certainly I've been dealing with clients who are coping with retire- ment issues at the same time they are dealing with divorce, and to a degree that I wouldn't have in my early years of practice," she says. Recent pension legislation has made handling pensions easier. It allows a pension to be divided at source through a pension administrator. However Cornish says she finds it "tricky" to deal with later-in-life separations because support payments may hinge on pen- sions not yet "in pay." "Do you tell someone they should retire, and wait to go back to court and then say now please reduce my support? Or do you tell them to go to court and say you plan to retire in a year and want be proactive about what the support obligations will be in a year and risk the court saying, 'Ought you be retiring in a year?'" she says. "It's the spousal support piece that I find makes it all so difficult. The Divorce Act encour- ages people to do what they can to work towards self-sufficiency but how much can be expected if a marriage ends when someone is in their late 50s after a 30-year marriage?" Predicting how long support pay- ments should go is difficult, so often there is a desire for people to make a deal for a lump sum payment or a prom- ise to pay a fixed amount of money for a defined amount of time. "The risk of course is that the person who promises to pay has a change in circumstances and they are stuck with that amount," says Cornish. "Or a late-career promo- tion gives them more money and the other person won't benefit from it." From a lawyer's point of view, Cornish says if you want to make a L E g A L r E p o rt \ fA M I Ly L AW certaInly I've been dealIng wIth clIents who are copIng wIth retIrement Issues at the same tIme they are dealIng wIth dIvorce, and to a degree that I wouldn't have In my early years of practIce. JuLiA CorniSH, Sealy Cornish Coulthard hildview_CL_Mar_14.indd 1 14-02-07 10:42 AM

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