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BC DIVORCE AND VANCOUVER FAMILY LAW LAWYERS MANAGING PARTNER LORNE MACLEAN AND ASSOCIATE JUSTIN WERB
February 3rd, 2010
SMART BC DIVORCE TIPS # 6 WINNING BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT AND BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT ADVISORY GUIDELINES VIDEO RELEASED
February 3rd, 2010BC Spousal Support and the applicability of the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines for separated spouses is a complex and highly contentious area. Lorne MacLean BC Family Law and BC Divorce Lawyer provides crucial tips to help you avoid common BC spousal support and BC Spousal Support Advisory Guideline mistakes. Do not waive BC spousal support and maintenance or fail to consider the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines on quantum and duration of support, on the with and without child support formula, on attributed income in disputed spousal support cases, on shared and split custody and on what happens when one party remarries or repartners.
WATCH THE WINNING BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT VIDEO BY CLICKING HERE
SMART BC DIVORCE TIPS #5 WINNING BC CHILD SUPPORT STRATEGY VIDEO RELEASED
February 1st, 2010Learn from Lorne MacLean, BC Divorce lawyer, how to win your BC Child Support case both basic British Columbia child support and special and extraordinary section 7 child support expense case by watching this BC child support video critical video. Don’t make the key mistake of accepting the basic BC child support table guideline amount has the correct figure, it is the floor of BC child support not the ceiling.
Learn that self employed persons personal tax returns are frequently not a correct measure of their real income but that the real income to be used can be higher or lower depending on the profitability of the company after the draws are taken by the owning spouse.
Learn that the guidelines were increased in May 1, 2006 and that the guidelines are designed to be reviewed each year. If your income has gone down because of the recent poor economy call us immediately to have support reduced and ensure that you obtain the fair amount of support that your children deserve.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS IMPORTANT VIDEO BECAUSE YOUR CHILDREN DESERVE IT
SMART BC DIVORCE TIPS VIDEO # 4 WINNING YOUR BC CHILD CUSTODY CASE RELEASED
January 25th, 2010Lorne MacLean, BC child custody lawyer and high net worth BC divorce and BC family law lawyer gives out great free video tips on how to win your British Columbia child custody case. If you are involved in a British Columbia divorce and child custody, guardianship, or BC child access case these tips are critical to helping you win your case. Follow this advice immediately and increase your chances of success in your BC Child custody and BC Guardianship and access case.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO NOW
Smart BC Divorce Tip #3 - Protect Yourself At All Times
January 21st, 2010Lorne MacLean, Vancouver BC Family Law Lawyer, at the MacLean Family Law Group is delighted to announce Smart BC Divorce Tips # 3 is now available at our youtube channel called Protect Yourself at All Times-Winning the Financial Aspects of your Divorce and Family Law Case has just been released to positive reviews. These tips are critical if you are involved in a BC Divorce, BC Child custody, BC Child Support, BC Spousal Support and BC Family Asset Division case.
Step 1 - Obtain Proof of all assets and Debts and All Income and Expenses
Copy tax returns, credit card statements, bills, business information and anything that might help you determine how much money you will need to live on and what marital assets you are entitled to. Go through the garbage or install spyware on a computer, if necessary. Tax returns don’t always show the real income to be used for your case so make copies of all company financial documents as well. Store these documents away from the Home and redirect your sensitive mail to a safe location.
Protect Your Money and Assets
Take half of the money from a joint account, and put it in your own name. If your spouse tries to clean out the account, you won’t be able to access that money until a judge says so. This way, you will have access to money, but make sure that you keep a record of how you spend it and this is not an excuse to try to get rid of or hide assets, so act honestly. Consider a restraining order to freeze assets, closing joint credit card accounts and lines of credit to prevent them being run up by your soon to be ex-spouse.
Be Patient
With joint marital assets like homes and stocks probably worth much less than they were a few years ago, some couples are agreeing to stay together until the financial tide turns. If a moneyed husband pushes for divorce because the economy makes it less expensive for him to cash out now, press him for an upside by asking for a bonus for giving up access to a potential gain or by remaining in as a joint owner of the asset.
Lorne MacLean High Net Worth Divorce Lawyer
Smart BC Divorce Tips #2 - Winning your Divorce Case by Putting your Best Foot Foward
January 19th, 2010Today’s Smart BC Divorce Tips #2 video from the BC Divorce and BC high net worth family law firm of MacLean Family Law Group points out a successful strategy to be used to help win their BC Divorce and BC Family Law Child Custody, Child Support, Spousal Support, and Property Division Case.
One of the most important things Lorne MacLean tells his clients when they first retain his law firm is that it is imperative that they do not write or say anything that they would not be proud to have the judge hearing their case know about because rest assured that judge will.
Click Here to see video -> Smart BC Divorce Tips #2
MACLEAN FAMILY LAW GROUP ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF SMART BC DIVORCE TIPS AND WEB BCFAMILYLAWTV.COM SHOW
January 18th, 2010Lorne MacLean BC divorce and family law lawyer is excited about the ability to educate BC divorcing couples on their BC divorce rights and obligations with his launch of series of new High Definition Video clips called Smart BC Divorce Tips and on their forthcoming BCFAMILYLAWTV.COM webcasts which will go live in the Spring of 2010.
Click here for the free video -> SMART BC DIVORCE TIPS VIDEO - DO NOT LEAVE THE MATRIMONIAL HOME
BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT REVIEW ORDERS AND ATTRIBUTED AND IMPUTED INCOME TO RECEIPIENT SPOUSE AND ONUS AT BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT HEARING REVIEW HEARING
January 6th, 2010
The Supreme Court of Canada defined the limited situations when a BC spousal support review can be ordered on BC spousal support awards in the Leskun. The British Columbia spousal support review order is still used as a tool to encourage a reluctant spouse to take steps to move in part or in whole towards self- sufficiency.
The recent decision of Reggelsen v. Reggelsen, 2009 BCSC 1790 – 2009/12/29 follows a line of cases that uses BC spousal support reviews to encourage a spouse to work toward self sufficiency when the spouse is hesitant or refuses to do so without the court nudging them towards this goal by way of reducing a BC spousal support award at the review on the basis of the spouses’s lack of effort to reenter the workforce.
The cases can specify the terms of review and can place the onus on one spouse to show they have made reasonable efforts to reenter the workforce. The problem remains however in setting the income level a spouse who has refused to enter the workforce can earn. The court must look at the education, work skills and work history as well as evidence of existing jobs the spouse could get and then attribute and income to them pursuant to section 19 of the Child Support Guidelines (they apply to spousal support too!).
Although the Supreme Court of Canada established that reviews should rarely be ordered, the courts in BC have continued to use reviews as a useful tool to allow a court to deal with future issues related to spousal support at a time when the actual living arrangements and income and expenses of the parties will be able to be correctly determined. It is often difficult to predict a career path for a spouse who is reentering the work force after a long period of time or who has health issues that impact on their ability to work or how a payor’s career might be impaired by a poor economy or changes in the marketplace. The case of Reggelsen applied the review principals to reduce spousal support by a few hundred dollars a month but the court refused to terminate support as the husband requested.
We provide the key case extracts below:
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BC FAMILY ASSETS AND BC PROPERTY DIVISION AND BC FAMILY ASSET VALUATION ISSUES IN SPECIE DIVISION OF FAMILY ASSETS
January 5th, 2010
Many BC Family Law and British Columbia divorce clients who have BC family assets and who are dividing BC family assets may be missing the boat on getting their fair share of BC family assets or other or BC business assets when an asset at the time of trial or division in a separation agreement has no current value but which BC family asset has the potential to increase in value in the future. Where a BC commercial property or BC business asset or BC patent asset currently has no value a good BC Family Law lawyer should ensure that you do not simply transfer your one half share in this BC family asset to the other spouse for no value. We recently settle the case by ensuring that our client obtained an in specie division meeting a division of the asset itself for example on a property rather than simply transferring your one half share to your other spouse for no money consider trying to stay in as a half owner so that you can participate in the gain in the future. Of course you have to consider seriously the upside and downside of staying in on a asset which currently has no value. You should also consider what contribution you may have to make in the future as a partner in this asset and you should also consider if it’s appropriate for ex-spouses to continue to work together after they are divorced or separate.
A recent example of an in specie division of an asset with potential upside was made in Smith v Smith 2008 BCCA 245. We provide the extract from the reasons below.
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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
December 31st, 2009
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.”