After several weeks of hard work all of the family lawyers at the MacLean Family Law Group are now into their two new offices in suite 2010-1075 West Georgia in downtown Vancouver and at the intersection of 152nd St. and # 10 Highway in Surrey in Suite 303-15240 #10 Highway.
All of the lawyers at our firm are committed to giving back a certain amount of free BC family law legal information to the public as part of our commitment to pro bono legal services in British Columbia. We will be holding monthly free BC family law and divorce seminars at our new Surrey state-of-the-art multimedia boardroom. In the past our seminars have been extremely popular and you must register to attend. Our 1st seminar to be held in the last week of February on the afternoon of Saturday February 25, 2012.
The seminar is restricted to 15 guests although the presentation will be filmed for release on our website as part of our video family law education initiative.
Our inaugural seminar at our Surrey boardroom will explain the dramatic changes that will take effect later this year as a result of broad revisions to family law in British Columbia as result of our new BC FAMILY LAW ACT.
The seminar is called “BIG Changes To BC Family Law Are Now Here Under the New BC Family Law Act”
Call now to book your seat for this game changing BC family law seminar. If you don’t know about the huge changes to family law that are now upon us isn’t it about time you found out?
Contact Carrie at 604-576-5400 to book your spot today.
Best Free Vancouver, BC Family Lawyer Tips for your BC Child Custody Case, Vancouver Child Guardianship and Surrey Child Access Case
Are you involved in an important BC child custody, guardianship and access case? If so you MUST WATCH OUR VIDEO AND READ THIS ARTICLE IMMEDIATELY AND THEN CALL US at 604-602-9000 or Province wide toll free at 1-877-602-9900.
Our MacLean Family Law Group associate, Leena Ronak Yousefi, is an BC Iranian family lawyer who is fluent in Farsi, Spanish and English and eager to help you with your BC child custody case.
The new BC Family Law Legislation Family Law Act which will be formalized in July of 2012 in British Columbia reiterates the best interest of children test as a paramount consideration in deciding the care, custody, guardianship and access of children. Children are the most important issue in family litigation when spouses do not agree on their custody or each wants to have ‘full’ custody of children. Child Custody litigation can be lengthy and expensive but good lawyers can focus on a speedy negotiated settlement if they are experienced in the area.
Here are four tips for preparing your custody affidavits or giving evidence on the stand: (more…)
The Vancouver BC child support lawyers at the MacLean Family Law Group have handled hundreds of BC child support cases involving both children under the age of majority and children over the age of majority. The age of maturity in British Columbia is 19 years of age. For child support purposes this stage is a critical factor to be considered in a British Columbia child support case. We are here to help. Call us toll free at 1-877-602-9900 to book an appointment at any of our 4 offices across the province which are located in downtown Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna, and Fort St. John or the click here to complete an initial consultation form for a child support issue consultation.
Many of our clients seem to think that their obligation to pay child support ends when the child reaches the age of 19. This is not ALWAYS true. The Divorce Act and Family Relations Act, as well as the Child Support Guidelines, place an obligation on the non-custodial parent to pay child support based on that parent’s gross income as long as the child remains the ‘child of the marriage’.
A ‘child of the marriage’ can be a child who is over the age of 19 and who remains dependent on his or her parents for support. In cases where the child is disabled or pursues post secondary education, that child is presumed to be dependent on his or her parents. In this sense, the parents are presumed to be required to provide child support until that child achieves self sufficiency or finishes post secondary education. Obviously, in today’s competitive society higher education is a laudable goal. The courts balance what is reasonable by way of a contribution from the parents taking into account that the child must also do their best to assist in paying for their education so they begin to take their 1st steps to independence as an adult. In many cases parents are fully supportive of a child’s realistic co-secondary education attempts however the courts are also aware that the child has a duty to make realistic efforts to complete their postsecondary education in a reasonable period of time. Other issues arise as to how many degrees should the parents be required to pay for should be the 1st degree or should payment of child support include postgraduate degree expenses?
Sometimes children attend a college or enrol in a program simply because ‘they have nothing better to do’. Understandably, some parents do not want to pay child support when their child attends post secondary but achieves poor grades and is financially irresponsible. No one wants to encourage a child to remain dependent and irresponsible, living off his or her parents’ support. The court are not always inclined to order the non-custodial parent to pay child support when such support further discourages the child from achieving practical and realistic goals.
When there is a dispute regarding child support of an adult child who attends post secondary education, the courts look at the following factors to determine the amount of support, if any, the non-custodial parent should pay:
The BC family law lawyer firm of MacLean Law Group is ready to open its new flagship Surrey Office at 152nd and #10 Highway. We already have 4 offices across BC located in downtown Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna and Fort St John BC and our clients for years have asked us to open a Surrey office which we did last summer. We are committed to being the best Surrey family lawyers and top ICBC and personal Injury law, immigration law and estate litigation law legal firms in the Fraser Valley. Lorne MacLean Q.C. leads the firm and has assembled an unbelievable team of associates and legal support staff at all of the firm’s locations. We are looking to continue to grow our expanding practice by adding 1-5 year call associates and experienced legal administrative assistants.
We already had a dedicated team of 5 lawyers in place at our Surrey Office but are always looking for top legal and legal administrative talent from the medium to large law firms of downtown Vancouver who have the drive and ambition to propel our firm even higher. Our clients are medium to high net worth individuals seeking focused and dedicated legal representation.
We work hard but for us practising law is not a job, nor merely a career, rather we view it as our calling.
Do you want more courtroom experience than you get at a big firm?
Do you like people more than paper?
Does helping people make you glow inside and get your juices pumping?
Do you look forward to settling matters fairly and quickly but if this isn’t possible are you confident in your courtroom skills?
If you approach practising law either as a lawyer or assistant as we do then submit your resume to sumit@bcfamilylaw.ca or call him at 604-560-6007.
Lorne MacLean QC with Victoria BC AG Representatives discuss the new BC Family Law Act
Lorne MacLean QC head of the MacLean Family Law Group has been asked by a number of Victoria family law clients to open a Victoria BC family law and divorce law office. Mr MacLean’s 10 lawyer and 4 existing family law office law firm already handles a number of Victoria BC Supreme Court family law files and we look forward to hearing from potential new family law clients in Victoria so we can set up initial consultations with them. We specialize in resolving high net worth and high conflict family law files.
Lorne MacLean QC also recently appeared in Victoria on the popular legal matters TV show Family Matters TV with Judge Harvey Brownstone.
We feel the sooner we bring a realistic assessment to a file the quicker and more fairly it can be resolved.
If you are a Victoria family law client call us now toll free 1-877-602-9900 to set up an initial consultation.
Lorne MacLean QC was just quoted across Canada on the stress of the Christmas Holidays and the impact it has on increasing divorce rates in Canada.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
Date: Thursday Dec. 22, 2011 7:38 PM ET
TORONTO — While the holidays have always been a time to be with those you love, experts say they’ve also become the time to ditch the one you don’t.
Young lovebirds and old marrieds alike are more likely to pull the plug on their relationship in the stretch between late November and early January, experts say.
Lorne MacLean has just been appointed a BC Queen’s Counsel an honour reserved for just 4 percent of the lawyers in British Columbia. Mr MacLean heads BC’s largest family law firm with 10 lawyers and 4 offices across BC located in downtown Vancouver, Surrey, Fort St John and Kelowna.
Twenty-eight receive Queen’s counsel honour
VICTORIA – Twenty-eight British Columbia lawyers have been appointed Queen’s counsel, Attorney General Shirley Bond announced.
The Queen’s counsel designation is an honour conferred on members of the legal profession to recognize exceptional merit and contribution. Successful candidates demonstrate professional integrity and good character and must be members of the British Columbia bar for at least five years.
Each September, the attorney general calls for Queen’s counsel nominations from the public. The 2011 deadline for submissions was Oct. 14. All applications were reviewed by an advisory committee, which recommended deserving candidates to the attorney general. The appointments are subsequently made by cabinet through an order-in-council.
The advisory committee includes the chief justice of British Columbia, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the chief judge of the Provincial Court, the president of the Law Society of British Columbia, a Law Society member appointed by the benchers (directors) and the deputy attorney general. The committee also seeks the views of the Canadian Bar Association (B.C. branch).
Lorne Neil MacLean of Vancouver has practiced in the area of family law since 1983. He is the sole partner of MacLean Family Law Group, with offices in Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna and Fort St. John. His practice focuses on spousal and child support, property, custody and access and common-law relationships.
To contact Lorne N. MacLean QC directly email him at lorne@bcfamilylaw.ca .
BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT LAWYERS-Mandarin and Cantonese Speaking Legal Department
As medium to high net worth BC family law and divorce lawyers with 4 offices in BC and 10 lawyers we handle dozens of Vancouvert and BC long term marriage spousal support cases each year. We handle interim and permanent spousal support cases and also deal with variation of support to increase, decrease, cancel, extend or shorten the payments. One of the thorny issues we face as spousal support lawyers in long term marriages is: what happens when parties who were subject to a support order before retirement reach the age of retirement or when the parties reach their 70′s and 80′s? Should they begin to use their assets to live on? Is support intended to ensure one spouse maintains or increases their assets? How long is support to be paid-is it “cradle to grave security”? What does a paying spouse have to show to have support reduced or cancelled? The Supreme Court of Canada released to key decisions today that indicate support will not be cancelled absent a clear showing that a big or “material change has occurred that renders the initial decision no longer appropriate.
Remember the spousal support guidelines state that in marriages in excess of 20 years and marriages where the age of the receiving spouse and length of relationship exceed 65 support is to be indefinite subject to variation if there is a “material change” or review.
APPEALS ALLOWED BY RECEIVING SPOUSES TO CONTINUE THEIR SUPPORT
We as BC white collar crime and corporate fraud and securities defence lawyers have a problem with recent tactics proposed by New RCMP Police Commissioner, Bob Paulson, regarding BC White-Collar Crime.
There has been much to do about the recent changes to white-collar crime. Just prior to May’s election Bill C-21, the Standing Up for Victims of White-Collar Crime Act was passed with all party support and this came into force on November 1, 2011. However, the challenges prosecuting these crimes may not be the laws or the penalties but the tactics used by the police to enforce these violations under the Criminal Code.
The enforcement may now be changing as the new Commissioner has stated that the white-collar crime units have “their strategy all wrong” (Globe and Mail, December 19, 2011 at 7:11 pm: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/new-rcmp-head-takes-tough-line-on-white-collar-crime/article2276986/). In this article it suggests the Commissioner may be ready to overhaul the police or the Integrated Market Enforcement Teams (“IMET”) collection of evidence from simply the passive referrals from the provincial securities regulators to actual integrated or shared information and may even include under-cover investigations.
Vancouver Estate Litigation and Resulting Trust Claim Lawyers
As Vancouver high net worth divorce lawyers and Wills Variation Act and estate litigation lawyers we often see the interplay between how family gifts or loans are characterized in disputed marriage breakdown cases as well as on the death of a parent or spouse in estate litigation cases.
In many family cases what might initially appear to have been a loan to both spouses when the couple is together during happy times at the start or during their marriage may be re-characterized as a gift to only one spouse or rather a loan to both spouses but suddenly needs to be repaid.
Until recently a fairly strict test for determining whether the initial advance of funds by a parent to their child and their spouses which placed an onus on the advancing parent to show several criteria for proving it to be alone has been replaced with by the concept that there is no free ride or free money presumed and that evidence of the advance for being a gift needs to be advanced to replace the presumption that the recipient holds the money for the benefit of the advancing parent on what is called a resulting trust. These cases can be emotional and complex and having a good lawyer to guide you through this tricky area is recommended. Call us at 604-602-9000 in Vancouver or at any of our other 3 offices in BC. Call toll free across the province at 1-877-602-9900.
The BC Appeal Court decision in Beaverstock v Beaverstock Estate decision involved a $50,000 advance from the mother to her son who later died. When the mother sought repayment of what she said was a loan from the deceased spouse and executor of his estate she was refused repayment. There was disputed evidence that the son said the monies were an advance on his inheritance and he would not need to repay it but in contrast that he would have to repay this loan.
The trial judge applied the well-known decision in Locke and noted that there were no documents evidencing the loan, no schedule for repayment was specified and no security was provided for the loan. Further the court found that the appellant mother had not demanded repayment of the loan prior to her son’s death, that there had been no repayment of the loan and that there was no reasonable expectation of repayment of loan.
While all of these factors were routinely applied to determine whether monies advanced were gifts or loans with the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Pecore and Madsen establish a critical new test which has changed the law for determining whether monies advanced our loans for and repayable or gifts that are not repayable.
Here is the critical part of the judgement that resulted in the mother winning her Appeal claim for repayment of the loan:
1.877.602.9900
