Family Law Flat Rates
Legal Coaching Flat Rate: Nerissa Young- $300/hr
Interspousal/Cohabitation or Separation Agreement (Simple) $1,500
Whether you require an agreement prior to entering into a spousal relationship, during a spousal relationship or following separation, we can assist you in drafting and structuring your agreement in a manner that not only resolves your legal issues but provides a governing guideline for the responsibilities of each party to the agreement such that it provides clarity and certainty and is enforceable in the event of non-compliance. These typically do not involve a plethora of legal issues. If you have many legal issues then your circumstances fall under ‘complex’ and fall under the flat rate below.
Interspousal/Cohabitation or Separation Agreement (Complex) $3,000
Whether you require an agreement prior to entering into a spousal relationship, during a spousal relationship or following separation, we can assist you in drafting, negotiating, and structuring your agreement in a manner that not only resolves your legal issues but provides a governing guideline for parenting and other responsibilities of each party to the agreement such that it provides clarity and certainty and is enforceable in the event of non-compliance. These typically involve a plethora of legal issues.
Interspousal or Cohabitation Agreements with Complex Corporate or Tax Considerations $7,500
These typically require significant legal or financial planning to take advantage of any corporate structuring or tax considerations in consultation with either your existing financial or tax planner or one of our partnering professionals. Whether you require an agreement prior to entering into a spousal relationship, during a spousal relationship or following separation, we can assist you in drafting, negotiating, and structuring your agreement in a manner that not only resolves your legal issues but provides a governing guideline for parenting and other responsibilities of each party to the agreement such that it provides clarity and certainty and is enforceable in the event of non-compliance. These typically involve a plethora of legal issues.
Independent Legal Advice $2500
If you have a legal agreement and only require review and advice relating to the same, we can ensure you have been informed about your rights and obligations of any Family Agreement as required under The Family Property Act (including review of financial disclosure exchanged between the parties, if any).
It is the lawyer’s discretion whether your individual case falls under this set fee.
Preparing for and Attending a Four-Way Meeting $2,500
Meeting with the other party and their lawyer can be an effective way in getting together to find amicable solutions to resolving your family law matter. Depending on the complexity of issues involved and the reasonableness of the opposing party, four-way meetings can be highly productive in resolving some or all of the outstanding issues. In order to prepare for such meetings we will review financial disclosure exchanged between the parties, prepare calculations, and Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA), which is the course of action you can take if negotiations fail and no agreement reached (your fallback plan). While attending the 4-Way meeting, if the value of the deal proposed to you is lower than your BATNA value, we may suggest you reject the offer and pursue your BATNA. However, if the final offer is higher than your BATNA value, we may suggest you to accept the offer.
If the Four-way meeting goes over 1-day our reduced preferred hourly rate will apply. (Nerissa Young – $250/hr)
Simple “Desk” Divorce $1,300 (No Children)
If there are no children of the marriage or other issues such as support or property involved, we can complete your divorce, usually within 60-90 days. This does not include a separation agreement, a pension order, the court and couriering fees of approximately $390.
Statement of Claim for Divorce & Division of Matrimonial Property $1,500
Commencing a court action requires the issuance of a Statement of Claim for Divorce & Division of Matrimonial Property and filing a Notice to Disclose/Application (where there are support issues and property). This starts the litigation process and is a required step to completing a divorce or obtaining a court order. This also signals to the opposing party what specific relief you are claiming. This does not include court fees of approximately $300, couriering fees, process server fees (or substitutional service orders if the opposing party cannot be served personally)
Responding/Defending Against a Statement of Claim for Divorce and/or a Notice to Disclose/Application $1,500
Responding to a Statement of Claim for Divorce & Division of Matrimonial Property and/or a Notice to Disclose/Application you have been served with involves filing a formal response in the form of a Statement of Defense and/or filing your financial disclosure. If you have relief you wish to deal with that was not statedin the documents you were served with, you will also need to file a Counterclaim or Defence. The Statement of Defence and/or Counterclaim responds to the relief sought by the other party while signaling what other relief you are claiming. This does not include court fees of approximately $300 and couriering fees.
Obtaining and Providing Disclosure $1,000
Disclosure of documents and information is crucial to determining fair and appropriate settlement of issues involving support and property division. There are a variety of methods that can be explored to ensure you have received the information required to satisfy you the resolution of your matter is fair. These include service and filing of a Notice to Disclose, service and filing of a Notice to Reply to Written Questions, conducting Oral Questioning, application to enforce compliance with deadlines, etc.
You may also have disclosure requirements you need to provide such as responding to a Notice to Disclose, responding to a Notice to Reply to Written Questions, subjecting yourself to Oral Questioning, or responding to an application to enforce compliance with deadlines, etc.
Interim Applications $3,000
From time to time, your legal issues cannot wait to be resolved in the ordinary course and require more immediate court intervention. This could involve custody or access issues, child or spousal support issues, or property matters (i.e. exclusive possession of the family home, preservation order restraining the sale or disposal of family property, or an interim distribution, etc.) Although interim applications are generally suggested to be a last-resort mechanism to dealing with your family law issues, occasionally they are necessary where the opposing party refuses to take a reasonable position or resists your attempts to move forward in a more efficient manner. This includes the $20 to $50 in court fees that may be incurred. Generally there are only a couple of issues such as custody, parenting and support or straightforward division of property.
Interim Applications Complex $5,500
From time to time, your legal issues cannot wait to be resolved in the ordinary course and require more immediate court intervention. This could involve custody or access issues, child or spousal support issues, or property matters (i.e. exclusive possession of the family home, preservation order restraining the sale or disposal of family property, or an interim distribution, etc.) Although interim applications are generally suggested to be a last-resort mechanism to dealing with your family law issues, occasionally they are necessary where the opposing party refuses to take a reasonable position or resists your attempts to move forward in a more efficient manner. This does not include court fees that may be incurred. These typically involve a plethora of legal issues.
Interim Applications (Response) $3,000
From time to time, your legal issues cannot wait to be resolved in the ordinary course and require more immediate court intervention. This could involve custody or access issues, child or spousal support issues, or property matters (i.e. exclusive possession of the family home, preservation order restraining the sale or disposal of family property, or an interim distribution, etc.) Although interim applications are generally suggested to be a last-resort mechanism to dealing with your family law issues, occasionally they are necessary where the opposing party refuses to take a reasonable position or resists your attempts to move forward in a more efficient manner. This does not include court fees that may be incurred. These typically involve a plethora of legal issues.
Interim Applications complex (Response) $5,000
From time to time, your legal issues cannot wait to be resolved in the ordinary course and require more immediate court intervention. This could involve custody or access issues, child or spousal support issues, or property matters (i.e. exclusive possession of the family home, preservation order restraining the sale or disposal of family property, or an interim distribution, etc.) Although interim applications are generally suggested to be a last-resort mechanism to dealing with your family law issues, occasionally they are necessary where the opposing party refuses to take a reasonable position or resists your attempts to move forward in a more efficient manner. This does not include court fees that may be incurred. These typically involve a plethora of legal issues.
Preparing for and Attending Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR) $5,500
Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR) is a confidential pre-trial settlement conference led by a Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench. The objective of a JDR is to resolve the dispute so a trial will be either unnecessary, or at most limited to those issues on which the parties do not agree. The parties meet with Justice to confidentially discuss the background of the case and what the parties feel is important in the case. The participants will then discuss possible solutions. If no agreement is reached, the Justice may give a non-binding opinion of what decision they would make if this case and these facts were presented at trial. The Justice’s non-binding opinion may help the parties and their lawyers reach a resolution without having to go to trial. A settlement is only reached if everyone agrees. Binding JDRs are also available at the Court of Queen’s Bench. In these cases the parties agree that the Justice’s opinion will be binding. Once it is scheduled we will need to put together your witness, discuss your Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA), which is the course of action you can take if negotiations fail and no agreement reached (your fallback plan). While attending the PTC or non-binding JDR, if the value of the deal proposed to you is lower than your BATNA value, we may suggest you reject the offer and pursue your BATNA. However, if the final offer is higher than your BATNA value, we may suggest you to accept the offer. The process involves both parties coming together in the presence of a judge who assist the parties in facilitating meaningful settlement discussion. They are highly effective in reaching a final resolution with a high probability of settlement by way of Minutes of Settlement or Consent Judgment. This does not include any court fees, if the court grants consent orders.
Preparing for and Attending a Pretrial Conference $1750
A pretrial conference is a mandatory procedure on the litigation path in the event you are not able to otherwise resolve matters by agreement. At the PTC, a judge will be present and attempt to mediate a settlement between the parties. If you go to trial this will not be the same judge at Trial. We start by scheduling the pretrial by teleconference.
Trial $7,500 per day
The last stage in the litigation process is trial. Some statistics suggest less than 2% of family law files end up going to trial and it is considered the absolute last resort to settling family law issues. There is a considerable amount of preparation involved in trials including organization of documents to be used as exhibits, strategizing preparing questions for witnesses, reviewing all pleadings and court documents, etc.
It is estimated that for every day of trial, there are 3-4 days of preparation. This preparation occurs at various phases in the days, weeks and months before trial. For this reason, fees are typically charged for one day of trial even if the matter settles within two months before the start of the trial, for two days of trial even if the matter settles within two weeks of trial, for three days of trial even if the matter settles within one day of trial and for the entirety of the scheduled days of trial whether they are utilized or not. It is always advisable to avoid trial if at all possible, not just because of the high financial cost, but also due to the high emotional cost given the stress of the process.
Appeals: $10,000 per 10 pages of Decision Under Appeal
Occasionally, litigants end up with a decision they do not agree with and wish to challenge the court’s decision to a higher authority. The law is constantly evolving and the Court of Appeal’s decisions serve to advance those evolutions and provide valuable commentary and clarification to lower courts, lawyers and litigants.
Because the complexity of an appeal often depends on the complexity of the lower court’s decision, there are few metrics that can assist us in determining an appropriate fee. Accordingly, our general policy is to round up to the nearest ten pages to calculate the fee estimate. This includes court filing fees but not the cost of obtaining any transcripts.
