Joint Consultation or Mediation

If you and your spouse prefer to meet with a lawyer together, we offer a Joint Consultation. The purpose of the Joint Consultation is to provide you both with legal information, not legal advice, to assist you in reaching an agreement and/or receive instructions to prepare a Separation Agreement and/or Uncontested Divorce. Because we will meet with both parties, information provided by the parties will not be protected by solicitor-client privilege.

Issues that may discussed at the Joint Consultation include:

Options for resolving parenting issues including assistance in creating a Parenting Plan.
Explanation of how the Child Support Guidelines work and how they may apply to your circumstances. (Independent legal advice may be recommended if your income or parenting situation is unique or complicated.)
Information regarding Spousal Support including potential entitlement and, if there may be entitlement, options for paying spousal support including amount, duration and method of payment.
Information and option regarding the process for dividing property, including the family home, pensions and other financial assets, and debts.

If you reach an agreement, we can assist by:

Preparing a formal written agreement, commonly referred to as a Separation Agreement, Divorce Agreement or Minutes of Settlement
Drafting and filing a Consent Order
Drafting and submitting an Uncontested Divorce application

If you don’t reach an agreement, we can assist by:

Mediating a resolution to the unresolved issues
Explaining and referring you to the Collaborative Divorce Process
Providing a referral to a family specialist/parenting expert to assist with difficult parenting issues
Providing a referral to a financial expert to assist with complex financial issues
Referring one of both of you to another lawyer for independent legal advice