MacLean Law’s top-ranked* Calgary family lawyers provide Best* Calgary family divorce lawyers tips in today’s blog by founder Lorne N. MacLean, QC. It can take more than one year for the parties to obtain a trial date in Calgary, Alberta. Calgary divorce clients, who have been separated more than a year, or who have other grounds for divorce, are entitled to bring on an application to have the divorce granted prior to decisions on contested issues over child custody and parenting time, child support, spousal support, and matrimonial property division.
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Best* Calgary Family Divorce Lawyers Tips
Sometimes, granting a divorce prior to decisions on the other issues can result in a prejudice to one of the parties. In high net worth Calgary divorce cases, which MacLean Law routinely deals with in, a divorce involving division of Calgary matrimonial property that includes family businesses partnerships or other corporate entities can be complicated by granting a divorce first as corporate reorganizations and tax-free rollovers between spouses will be foreclosed if a divorce has been granted. Sometimes rights of the parties in foreign jurisdictions such as China and India may be affected negatively. Prejudice to the party opposing the divorce will be an important consideration.
In today’s Best* Calgary Divorce lawyers Tips we discussed the test for when a court will allow a divorce to be granted prior to a court decision on the disputed child custody and financial issues.
Best* Calgary Family Divorce Lawyers Tips – New Case
Today’s Best* Calgary Family Divorce lawyers Tips comes from a recent Alberta Court of Appeal decision called Brousseau v Brousseau 2017 ABCA 75, 2017 CarswellAlta 330 where a husband appealed a lower court order granting a divorce before trial of financial issues. His appeal was dismissed as he failed to show any prejudice to the divorce being granted. This case is useful where one party tries to stall the divorce or just fails to accept the marriage is over and one party wants to move forward.
Fraser C.J.A. (for the Court):
1 Martin Brousseau has appealed an order that a chambers judge made allowing the respondent, Tanya Brousseau, to sever the issues of corollary relief and proceed by way of desk divorce. He has also appealed the costs order made against him by the chambers judge.
2 The decision whether to sever divorce proceedings from corollary relief engages s 11(1)(b) of the Divorce Act, RSC 1985, c 3 (2nd Supp). The test for severance is ultimately whether it is fair in the circumstances, and such a discretionary decision made by a chambers judge will not be overturned unless it is clearly wrong or based on an error in principle: Miles v. Miles, 2004 ABCA 361 (Alta. C.A.) at paras 4-5, [2004] A.J. No. 1271 (Alta. C.A.). In the present case, we see no reason to interfere with the order made by the chambers judge to sever issues of corollary relief and proceed by way of desk divorce.
3 Mr. Brousseau consented to the divorce itself and only objected to severance on the basis that custody and access remained outstanding issues. In fact, those issues were dealt with in the May 17, 2016 order and cannot be modified, absent leave of the Court. Final resolution of the issues concerning the matrimonial home and child support remain outstanding, though case management will hopefully help the parties resolve them.
4 Nor do we see any basis on which it would be proper to overturn the costs award made by the chambers judge. Mrs. Brousseau was successful in her application. In addition, the application itself might have been unnecessary had Mr. Brousseau acknowledged that the basis of his opposition had been dealt with in a previous court order.
Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.
Our best* Calgary divorce lawyers tips are short snippets of information that may or may not apply to your specific case.
It makes sense to meet with us in person to go over the Best* Calgary Divorce lawyers tips that apply to your case but even more importantly to allow us to develop a cohesive and compelling strategy to move your life and that of your new family unit forward. Call us now at 403-444-5503 to get on the path to success.
