Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers 403-444-5503
Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers assist parties in obtaining an initial amount of spousal support that permits parties to meet their needs and obligations and maintain the marital standard of living if at all possible.Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers know that running two households instead of one on the same salary or salaries earned by the spouses can present challenges for Calgary family law clients.
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Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers Rough and Ready Justice To Trial
At the start of an action getting our Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers know the court will make orders based on “rough and ready justice”. Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers know the court will act like a “financial paramedic” who puts urgently needed financial orders in place for the short term until a trial judge can get all of the evidence, hear financial experts, listen to the parties give evidence and be cross-examined and look at documents after full financial disclosure that allow a full and careful decision to be reached. Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers know that these initial Calgary interim spousal support awards can be too high or too low because the court could not assess self sufficiency or the correct incomes of self employed persons on incomplete or disputed evidence or decide who was right on hotly contested issues of what each spouse really earned or what their real expenses were monthly.
Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers
Pinter v. Pinter is a case our top MacLean Family Law Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers recommend as a clear summary of what the intent and effect of a Calgary interim spousal support order. Our Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers emphasize these awards are interim only and can be corrected at the trial of the Calgary spousal support action. Here is what the Alberta Court of Appeal said in Pinter v Pinter with the key parts emphasized in bold:
Interim Spousal Support
[32] Mr. Pinter’s final ground of appeal is that the chambers judge erred in granting interim spousal support when there was insufficient evidence to establish entitlement. The appellant cites various inconsistencies, contradictions, and gaps in the respondent’s evidence for this.
[33] A chambers judge’s decision to grant spousal support is entitled to deference: Hickey v Hickey, 1999 CanLII 691 (SCC), [1999] 2 SCR 518 at para 11. This was an interim order only and it was necessarily made on a less than perfect record: Peterson v Ardiel, 2007 ABCA 218 (CanLII) at para 11. The goal of an interim order is not to make a final determination on all of the evidence, but to provide a reasonably acceptable solution until trial: Sypher v Sypher (1986), 2 RFL (3d) 413 (Ont CA). The trial judge will fully review and remedy any errors with the interim order: Bell Canada v Canada (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission), 1989 CanLII 67 (SCC), [1989] 1 SCR 1722 at 1752. In other words, it is a band-aid, not surgery. We were told the matter of spousal support is headed to trial.
[34] Although the evidence before the chambers judge was neither complete nor uncontested, there was sufficient evidence to make the order that she did, a determination that is entitled to deference. At trial, Mr. Pinter is at liberty to more fully expose the alleged flaws in Ms. McMillen’s evidence. In the meantime, as noted by Bielby J.A., “[t]he solution in cases like this is to complete disclosure and set the matter down for trial without delay, not to launch appeals from interlocutory orders”: Davies v Davies, 2015 ABCA 17 (CanLII) at para 6.
Our Calgary Interim Spousal Support Lawyers will help you get a proper amount of interim support in the Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench and thoroughly deal with the issue so it gets settled before trial or failing that, so it is fully and fairly dealt with at trial. Call us at 403-444-5503 today to meet with Lorne N. MacLean, QC .
