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Posts Tagged ‘BC family law’

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SMART BC DIVORCE TIPS #5 WINNING BC CHILD SUPPORT STRATEGY VIDEO RELEASED

Monday, February 1st, 2010

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

Smart BC Divorce Tip #3 – Protect Yourself At All Times

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Lorne 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 Lawyerimg_5802

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Posted in Blog Articles, Child Support, Common Law and Same Sex, Custody and Access, Division of Property, Divorce Planning, General | No Comments »

Smart BC Divorce Tips #2 – Winning your Divorce Case by Putting your Best Foot Foward

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Today’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

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Posted in Blog Articles, Child Support, Common Law and Same Sex, Custody and Access, Division of Property, Divorce Planning, General, Home | No Comments »

MACLEAN FAMILY LAW GROUP ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF SMART BC DIVORCE TIPS AND WEB BCFAMILYLAWTV.COM SHOW

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Lorne 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

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BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT REVIEW ORDERS AND ATTRIBUTED AND IMPUTED INCOME TO RECEIPIENT SPOUSE AND ONUS AT BC SPOUSAL SUPPORT HEARING REVIEW HEARING

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Lorne MacLean Founding Partner and Divorce Lawyer MacLean family Law Group
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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Posted in Blog Articles, spousal support | 2 Comments »

BC FAMILY ASSETS AND BC PROPERTY DIVISION AND BC FAMILY ASSET VALUATION ISSUES IN SPECIE DIVISION OF FAMILY ASSETS

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

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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

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

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

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

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

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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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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 »

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