Legal Resource Guide

$ $ C oming to terms with the end of a marriage and deciding to separate can be difficult enough. Figuring out the next steps to take and planning for the financial future can be overwhelming. Family lawyer Douglas Green says people want to look at their finances, how to support themselves, and what arrangements can be made for their children ���because it can be a very traumatic and difficult time from a financial point of view.��� ���Two people live cheaper living together,��� he says, adding that support and property are the two main financial concerns. Martha McCarthy, who practises family law in Toronto, notes there are structures in place to determine child and spousal support. ���If you are the recipient of support and you have a sense of your spouse���s income for the last year or the last three years, that would be very helpful in a meeting [with a lawyer] and will give you a sense of the reasonable range of the whole support entitlement. ���If you are potentially the payor of child and/or spousal support,��� she adds, ���having your own income information handy and the income information of your spouse will also give you an understanding of the reasonable range of your obligations.��� She says ���to know even within a range of where one is generally going to be is important for planning, thinking about where you���re going to live and what���s reasonable, [and] what changes you���re going to have to make in your life, if any.��� A consultation with a lawyer can also help provide a spouse with an idea of how the property will be divided. ���The basic thing that people need to know is there���s going to be an equal sharing of the assets that accrued over the course of the marriage,��� says McCarthy. She notes a lawyer can give a general range of how the property division will go, the potential tradeoffs, and possible ways to structure a settlement. ���The way that the net family property calculation works,��� she says, ���is that we take everybody���s assets according to title owned at the date of separation and then we subtract out liabilities at the date of separation.��� She will then subtract out of the calculation assets owned at the date of the marriage and subtract out gifts or inheritance. She says there are special rules for matrimonial homes. ���It does matter who owns the property because the owner of the property keeps the property, shows the property on his or her side of the ledger in the calculation, and has control over the asset.��� To prepare for the separation, McCarthy recommends the partner in the less economically powerful position have a nest egg. ���I suggest to people that, if they can, if they have the luxury of being able to do so, that they put themselves in the position of having three or four months worth of support for themselves.��� Green notes that divorces can be very expensive, depending on the issues. He says to prepare for a divorce, the parties should have savings and a job. ���Being employed is important to help afford some of these things. It���s not cheap. If you ���I suggest to people that, if they can, if they have the luxury of being able to do so, that they put themselves in the position of having three or four months worth of support for themselves.��� wanted to have a contested trial with issues and so forth, you can spend $50,000 to $60,000 easily with all that���s involved, or more.��� He says an uncontested divorce, where there are no real issues, could cost around $1,500, with a separation agreement costing around $1,500 to $3,000, depending on its complexity. ���But if you start to get into an argument and it���s contested and so on, the sky���s almost the limit.��� Another issue that separating spouses need to be cognizant of is that moving out of the matrimonial home can be prejudicial to their custody and access claim, says McCarthy. ���A lot of the time, people have to co-habit for some extended period of time, until they work out an interim child-related agreement, until they go to a mediation, until they find a way to make it so they do not feel exposed by the decision to move out of the home.��� McCarthy will often recommend clients talk to their spouses about going to see a child psychologist to try to mediate a parenting plan. ���If you go to somebody good, it���s very difficult to go to a meeting and hear about the effect of conflict on children and leave that meeting and start having a huge war. Everybody loves their children. If you are properly informed about the effect of conflict on children arising from separation, often, that will change behaviour.��� Green points out that parents seperating doesn���t necessarily ruin their children���s lives. ���But it can if the parents start using the children to get back at their ex-spouse. As long as the children know that both parents love them and that the arguments between the parents are going to be kept outside the home, that���s the best.��� 15

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