Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m M A r C h 2 0 1 5 43 divorce simple, do it when both people are retiring in a circumstance when they both agree it's appropriate to retire because dividing assets in half is rela- tively uncomplicated. "But of course life never happens in that way," she says. "One of the early shocks when it hasn't been thought through is when someone who has planned all along to retire at 63 may find the impact of divorce at 59 means that can't happen now. There's extra pressure on everyone involved in this — the lawyers included — because there isn't the time to pick up and do over," she says. "It's a lot trickier if you're going through divorce at 63 and what- ever you lose in the divorce you have a limited time to make up again. Or if you make a decision that turns out to be wrong — how much time you have to rectify the decision?" She points to the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Boston v. Boston, which looked at the general principle that double dipping — expecting some- one to pay support over money flowing from a pension already divided — is to be avoided where possible. Family law lawyers also point to the 2012 Carrigan v. Carrigan Estate case in which Ronald Carrigan died unexpect- edly at age 57. He left his entire estate, worth about $2.4 million, to his wife (from whom he had been separated for 12 years) and his two daughters. At the time of his death, he was not divorced from his first wife, and in an eight-year common law relationship. He had also not changed his pension beneficiary to his common law wife from his first wife and children — they received his death benefits. The argument after his death was: Who should have received the pen- sion — the wife at time of separation or common law spouse? The common law spouse, Jennifer Quinn appealed and eventually the Ontario Divisional Court conducted its own analysis of the dependant support claim, ultimately concluding she was entitled to a lump sum payment of $750,000. She had three separate hearings to determine her entitlement to a share of Carrigan's estate, and got three very different results. "It was a catastrophe," says Benmor. "The takeaway is when the Mr. Carrigans of the world walk into your office for a grey divorce, shake him and say, 'Buddy, don't die without taking care of everything.' Do a co-habitation agreement with your spouse and do a proper separation agreement with your ex — lock it up. Get the wills done and everything you have to do — you don't want to be looking down from heaven and seeing what happened to the Carrigan family." Bales often suggests her older clients use mediation services of retired judges. "They can be very good at working with these older couples and especially when there isn't enough money to go around for a court battle," she says. Goldhart says older couples are just less likely to do "knock 'em sock 'em" court battles. "They just want to get it done," she says. "Life's too short and at a later age there's less in front than there is behind." Your proposal must be received no later than May 30, 2015 Please submit your Family Law proposal by mail to: Heather Walker Program Co-coordinator P.O. Box 244 Woodville, ON K0M 2T0 or E-mail: nationalfamilylawprogram@sympatico.ca (Please identify the proposal as a submission for the 2016 program on the re line of the e-mail) Note: Presenters will receive a contribution toward travel and accommodation expenses. I wish to receive more information about the program when available. Please send this form to: Heather Walker Program Coordinator National Family Law Program Federation of Law Societies P.O. Box 244 Woodville, ON K0M 2T0 Phone: (705)879-3082 (message centre) E-mail: nationalfamilylawprogram@sympatico.ca Fe 2 Federation of Law Societies of Canada 2016 National Family Law Program Location: Atlantic Canada CALL FOR PAPERS Planning for the National Family Law Program in 2016 is underway. We are inviting submissions of proposals for Papers/Presentations under the following guidelines: 1. One page outline of topic(s), format of presentation and estimated time for presentation or workshop. 2. Your agreement to provide an original written paper on the topic(s) by May 30, 2016. 3. Your agreement to participate in other presentations as workshop leader or panelist if required. 4. Please include a copy of your curriculum vitae and co-presenters with your submission. National Family Law Program 2016 FederationofLaw_CL_Mar_15.indd 1 2015-02-10 3:39 PM

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