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Archive for December, 2009

MacLean Family Law Group’s Lorne MacLean Quoted in Vancouver BC Sun on How to have Success in your BC Divorce, BC Child Custody and BC Child Support Case

Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Lorne MacLean BC Divorce Lawyer in Chicago

Lorne MacLean BC Divorce Lawyer in Chicago

We were delighted to see one of our strategies for winning your BC Divorce case was quoted as one of the best quotes of the last decade in Malcolm Parry’s December 31, 2009 New Year’s Eve edition article in the Vancouver Sun. If you want to find out about other winning strategies to settle your case favourably or to litigate it effectively call us now at 604-602-9000.

Trade Talk quotes of the decade, or does the self-proclaimed king of the city have partners?
Malcolm Parry, Vancouver Sun

Published: Thursday, December 31, 2009

It began with Y2K and ended with H1N1. Here, in chronological order, is what some folk in this column said as the decade unfolded.
DO US PART: Specializing in divorces for high-net-worth individuals, MacLean Family Law Group principal Lorne MacLean recommended “giftwrapping an argument and placing it before the judge, not overturning a garbage can of arguments and making the judge pick through them.”

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Posted in Blog Articles, Divorce Planning, General | No Comments »

BC Child Custody and British Columbia Child Custody and BC Child Guardianship and BC Child Access Christmas Holiday Tips

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

manny-witzman-articled-student-and-legal-elf-at-maclean-family-law-group1

Holiday wishes and free BC Child Custody Tips from all of us at the MacLean Family Law Group – Photo of Manny Witzman, Articled Student and part-time elf at BC Supreme Court.

BC CHILD CUSTODY PARENTING STRATEGIES FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Christmas holidays can be a particularly stressful time for newly separated BC Child Custody parents attempting to create normalcy for their children around the holidays. Often, parents are faced with having to determine between them how to divide previously shared special days and moments, without either parent feeling left out or the children being forced to choose between spending time with one parent over another.

We at the MacLean Family Law Group wanted to share some of the successful strategies utilized by our clients in the past during this time of year that we have been told worked for both parents and children in this situation:

1. Using webcam technology. By having one parent attend Christmas morning events via webcam, both parents are given the opportunity to participate in the Child’s Christmas activities. This was particularly helpful for those children still in the wonderment of ‘Santa Claus’ stage.

2. Providing a video-tape record of the Child’s Christmas at each parent’s home where webcam is not available, so that each parent gets to share in the Child’s experiences at the other parent’s home.

3. Creating a neutral 3rd party site for Christmas morning such as a grandparent’s home, where all parties could attend and no one would be excluded.

4. Having the access exchange at the holiday time done by a holiday character, such as Santa Claus or a North Pole Elf. This takes the pressure off of the access exchange keeping the Child distracted and entertained.

5. Taking a family holiday where the parents stayed at different hotels and the Children were able to spend time with each parent over the holiday season in a different setting which took away the emphasis on ‘Christmas Day’.

Some other links that we found on the web which also provide some great information and holiday tips for single parents:

http://singleparent.lifetips.com/tip/20101/holidays-gift-giving/christmas-time/plan-a-special-christmas-meal.html

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Posted in Blog Articles, Custody and Access, Divorce Planning, General | No Comments »

MacLean Family Law Group Uses technology to Better BC FAMILY LAW Client’s Results and Our Communications with Clients

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

mflg-dashboardThe MacLean Family Law Group is delighted to announce our updated firm extranet which will allow BC FAMILY LAW clients to view their file documents, tasks, important events and communicate with us 24/7. If our clients want to update us with a document, check their appointment dates with us, see what is happening on their file, or look at critical documents on their file, at any time of the day or night, all they have to do is log into our secure server and open up their file using their own secure password. The use of this system will save our clients money, improve their file outcome and as my mother told me as a little boy “Let’s get everyone to be part of the crew and no one just part of the cargo.”

The sytem will also enable our client to receive instantaneous free twitter, blog, facebook articles and FAQ answers as we post them on our social networks.

Posted in Blog Articles, General | No Comments »

Lorne MacLean BC Family Law Lawyer returns after speaking at 5TH Annual National CBA LAW FIRM LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

lorne-maclean-bc-family-law-lawyer-and-richard-susskind-speak-on-law-firm-change-for-cba
Photo Lorne MacLean BC FAMILY LAW LAWYER and Richard Susskind in Toronto

I had a wonderful and illuminating trip to Toronto and was honoured to be asked to speak with a stellar legal panel comprised of a variety of prestigious large law firm and major corporate in-house counsel as well as with Paul Lippe the founder of- Legal Onramp- a collaborative tool for lawyers and their clients to share information and to increase efficiency while lowering their costs.

I spoke on alternative fee arrangements for individual clients working with smaller law firms and about how technology and social media helps small firms and their clients all become part of a collaborative team. I told the managing partners from most of Canada’s leading law firms that the goal, for lawyer and client at our firm, is to make “everyone like part of the crew leaving no one as part of the cargo.” MacLean Family Law Group’s focus at my BC Family Law practice is on the use of technology to increase our ability to better serve our family law clients.

It was a delight to listen to Richard Susskind predict the future of law and for lawyers and I recommend you read his books on the topic of massive change to the provision of legal services he has authored including “The Future of Law”.

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Posted in Blog Articles, Divorce Planning, General | No Comments »

BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT CONSENT ORDERS VARIATION AND MIGLIN TWO STEP TEST FOR VARIATION OF SPOUSAL SUPPORT

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

In Turpin v Clark the BC Court of Appeal partially allowed a husband’s appeal from a BC spousal support judgment allowing the wife’s upward quantum variation to comply with the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines of a Consent step down BC spousal support Order. The Court of Appeal set aside the Trial Judge’s Order to increase and extend support and remove clawback clauses for employment income earned by the wife but did extend support for 3 more years beyond the minimum time it was to be paid. The case points out that Consent Orders are really just the embodiment of an agreement between two spouses. The two part MIGLIN test for varying separation agreements applies equally to Consent Orders which requires the Court:
a) first determining whether the agreement was fairly negotiated and fair at the time it was signed; and
b) second, even if this test is met, the court determining whether the agreement remains fair at the time of the variation application- which may be years after the original agreement or Order was signed – and whether it continues to comply with the principles of the Canadian Divorce Act including taking into account advantages and disadvantages to each spouse from the marriage or its breakdown and the need to promote self sufficiency among other factors and objectives.

The Court of Appeal pointed out that factors the parties considered as forseen or expected at the time they made their deal should be listed to assist the court viewing the consent order in the future to assess how fairly the agreement continues to reflect the original intentions of the parties. The Court also commented on the blight of non-disclosure in family law cases and the problems it causes.
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Posted in Blog Articles, Child Support, Separation Agreements, spousal support | No Comments »

HIGH INCOME BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT AND CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES CALCULATION AND GROSS UP FOR LOWER TAXES

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

img_5989BC spousal support and child support awards start with a proper calculation of the BC paying spouses spousal and child support guideline income which can be taken from tax returns, financial statements showing pre- tax corporate earnings. In cases of the paying spouse earning a foreign income, a figure that may be grossed up to reflect a Canadian equivalent income for exchange rate differences and to take into account the income may be received on a tax free basis or on a reduced tax basis compared to the prevailing rates in Canada. Income will often also include bonuses, severance pay and overtime.

The recent Court of Appeal decision of Gonabady-Namadon v Mohamadzadeh dealt with an appeal from a trial judges’s finding that the husband had failed to disclose his true assets and income and had provided no proof of the taxes he paid on income he earned as a resident of Iran nor any proof of what tax rates in Iran were. The trial judge made negative findings against the husband but fixed his income at $250,000 per annum and found that despite the 13 year marriage where the wife had a child she was not entitled to spousal support. The wife was awarded full recovery of her legal fees for the husband’s steadfast refusal to disclose his true income and assets.

The wife appealed and was successful in increasing the guideline income for the husband from $250,000 to $350,000 per annum based on a gross up for lower tax rates in Iran meaning the husband’s available income was much higher than an equivalent similar gross income in Canada. Further, despite the fact the wife was a doctor with the ability to earn a good income the Court of Appeal held she was entitled to spousal support for the low end of the duration being 6 years on a marriage length of 13 years at a monthly payment of $2300.

I have extracted the key paragraphs from the decision below.
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Posted in Blog Articles, Child Support, Division of Property, General, spousal support | No Comments »

BC COMMON LAW RELATIONSHIPS, UNMARRIED COUPLES AND RIGHTS TO BC CHILD SUPPORT AND BC TRUST AND PROPERTY CLAIMS

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

A recent BC Supreme Court common law trust and property claim and step parent child support case Hall v. Becker explains nicely how a common law trust claim and property claim work. It also analyses the duty at BC law of a BC step parent to pay BC child support and considers the duty of both the natural father and step parent to pay child support in a case where the mother has re-partnered. A step parent is liable if married to the natural parent OR if the parties lived in a marriage like relationship for a period in excess of two years and if the step parent has made any contribution to that child for more than 1 year and the claim is brought within 1 year of the last contribution for the benefit of the child.
BC constructive trust claims require the claimant to prove, enrichment to one spouse, deprivation to the other ands an absence of a legitimate reason why no award should be made for this enrichment. I often tell my clients it is a cost benefit analysis which requires the claiming party to prove they gave more than they got. Awards in common law relationships are commonly less than a married person would receive upon marriage breakdown.
To read more see the extracts I provided below and if you have any questions call me Lorne MacLean at 604-602-9000.
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Posted in Blog Articles, Child Support, Common Law and Same Sex, Division of Property | No Comments »