Our highly rated* Calgary shared parenting and BC shared parenting, child custody and guardianship lawyers whose new Calgary shared parenting law offices are now located in Bankers Hall, downtown Calgary and whose phone number is 403-444-5503 are very familiar with the latest case law, legislation, psychological literature and child attachment theory as it relates to shared child custody and parenting cases. Lorne MacLean Q.C. a BC based lawyer was recently asked to represent a Calgary client who had a highly disputed child parenting and guardianship case who was told by other counsel that he had no chance at shared custody of an 11-month-old breast-feeding child. The concerned client turned to Mr. MacLean for help who was successful on behalf of his client and infant son in obtaining a phased-in week on week off shared parenting and guardianship schedule in the Calgary Court of Queens Bench.
*(Top Choice Award (2014, 2016, 2017), top rated reviews on Google, Yelp, threebestrated, lawerratingz.com).
Calgary Shared Parenting
One of the many arguments Lorne MacLean Q.C. successfully made for Calgary shared parenting in the Calgary Courts was “Children don’t forfeit the love and guidance of two caring and concerned parents merely because of marriage breakdown.”
This stellar Calgary shared parenting result has drawn attention from other Calgary clients in need of capable representation in complex and potentially high conflict parenting and guardianship disputes that may involve parental alienation or estrangement. As a result of a high demand for the services of Lorne MacLean Q.C. and his 22 lawyer family law firm, we are pleased to assist clients in Calgary. Our BC offices are located in downtown Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna, Fort St. John and our new office has just opened in downtown Calgary, Alberta on the 10th floor in Banker’s Hall . We also have two senior collaborative family law lawyers to assist us in this difficult area of law.
Here is a nice Calgary shared parenting testimonial concerning Lorne MacLean, Q.C. from one of our satisfied Calgary clients:
In a complex case, Calgary shared parenting and guardianship professional Lorne MacLean succeeded by bringing an unprecedented level of talent, detail and care to the case. His thorough and analytical approach to every single aspect ensured that he was fully prepared for his skillful court room presence. Mr. MacLean and his accomplished staff worked hard with an impeccable and precise methodology ensuring that the best interest of my child was a primary focus. The attentive and diligent team of MacLean Family Law produced an overwhelmingly positive outcome for the rights of my child. I am extremely pleased with my experience and would recommend the MacLean Family Law Group to anyone requiring specialized expertise and equality for the rights of their children and family interests.
Our Calgary shared parenting know experts disagree on whether there should be a presumption in favour of shared parenting as there is in some other jurisdictions. Shared parenting and guardianship does not work in all cases but parents should be encouraged to consider this option as all experts agree that the greatest predictor of poor outcomes for children growing up is continued parental conflict.
Some of the arguments used in successful shared parenting and guardianship cases are :
- It ensures continuation of family life for the child, with the advantage of nurture from both parents rather than just one.
- It reassures the child that he has two parents, and although they live in separate places, he definitely has a home with both of them.
- It dispels the notion that only one parent is “caring” and that the other is “errant” or “absent”.
- It ensures that one parent is not unfairly burdened with the responsibility of discipline whilst the other is relegated to (or marginalised as) the fun or contact parent.
- It provides the opportunity for children and parents to develop meaningful and lasting relationships – in place of the artificiality and frustrations of contact .
- It affirms the parents in their belief that they both have an ongoing role in their child’s life.
- It places both parents on an equal footing with schools, doctors and the world at large – who might otherwise only want to deal with the residential parent.
- It confirms that no matter what, each parent wants to, and is able to, provide a home for their child.
- It reassures the child that in the event of one parent dying he still has a home to go to.
- Without such an order, if one parent dies, the child would not automatically go to live with the other parent, but would be left with whoever they were living with at the time or handed over to a guardian – a poor substitute for a natural parent.
- It enables both parents to claim the additional personal tax allowance (and possibly one parent benefit, family credit and additional child benefit), thus increasing the income available to the children (only applicable for two or more children).
- it gives each parent a respite from the potentially exhausting task of working on their career, reeducating themselves and being a single parent
- it allows both parents to bear the financial burden and compromises on careers and social lives that being a fully involve parent does with the benefit of sharing both the benefits and obligations of raising a child that was born during their relationship as opposed to saddling only one parent with trying to balance a career , a personal life and being the best parent possible
Lorne N MacLean, QC winning counsel on Canada’s most famous child custody case of Young v Young and top Calgary shared parenting lawyer approaches to dealing with maximum contact by both parents to their children after separation focus on maintaining and promoting a healthy bond by the child with both of their parents. We often caution parents to focus on their obligations to their child and not get trapped in outdated thinking along the lines of “parental rights”.
For good reason, mothers are biologically hardwired to act as gatekeepers with respect to their children in order to ensure that their children are kept safe at all times. Mothers have a crucial and important role to play in the lives of their children as as they grow but after separation sometimes this biological imperative can unduly interfere with the child’s need to have maximum contact with the father.
Repeated studies have shown the crucial importance of fathers in the development of children particularly with respect to daughters. Higher rates of high school dropout, substance abuse, difficulty in maintaining relationships with the opposite sex and depression and even suicide have been noted in children who have been deprived by whatever means of the important and appropriate involvement of a caring and concerned father.
