The Legal Process of Separation and Divorce in BC

Lawyers are expensive. Most charge $250-$450/hour. If you hire a lawyer to help you write a separation agreement and get divorced, it will probably cost at least $10,000 and may cost you over $100,000. You can save a lot of money if you learn about the process first before deciding whether and when to hire a lawyer. You could start with advice without a commitment to hire the lawyer for the whole situation. You will also save money if you use a counselor, coach or friend to help you work through your frustrations, anger and sadness rather than paying a lawyer hundreds of dollars to listen to you vent.

Some couples can write their own separation agreement and obtain a Desk Order Divorce for less than $500. Others can do some of the work themselves and choose a lawyer that offers unbundled services, keeping their total bill under $2000. In some cases, hiring a lawyer from the beginning for all the issues is the best financial decision. I recommend that you start with free legal advice, and then decide what is best for you in your circumstances.

Free legal advice:

  • The Legal Services Society of BC has a lot of useful information on their website.
  • The Provincial courthouses have Family Duty Counsel on site that will give you advice about child support, spousal support, and the basics of other issues. You can either drop in during “drop-in hours” or make an appointment. They will spend 15-30 minutes answering your questions or helping you to fill out a court application form, depending on how many people are waiting. They will only help you if you are not represented by a lawyer. If you have a low income you might qualify for extra help from duty counsel. Family Duty Counsel are in provincial court houses in Surrey, New Westminster, Port Coquitlam, Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Kelowna and Prince George.
  • If you have an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) through your workplace, you may be eligible for 30 minutes or more of free legal advice by telephone.
  • Some family lawyers will give you 30-60 minutes of free or reduced fee advice in order to help you to decide whether to hire them to represent you

Be careful about relying on legal advice on the internet. Each province has its own laws and therefore information on an Ontario lawyer’s website may not be true for you if you live in BC.

Child support amounts are usually calculated using a table that is set on a regular basis by the federal government.

The Provincial Courts will help with child support, child custody and spousal support. The Federal Courts are used for most other aspects of separation and divorce. If you are going to work through the process on your own, you should do everything you can in Provincial Court first, because the judges will be more lenient about not knowing protocols than the Supreme Court judges will be.

Free Mediation:

If you have kids, you may be eligible for free mediation with the Family Justice counsellors at the courthouse. A visit with them is mandatory if you start a court action in Provincial (Family) Court, but they may offer some help to you before that point as well. Be aware while you are speaking to them that they are not acting as your lawyer and may not keep what you say to them confidential – they might tell your ex-spouse what you’ve said if they think that will help the two of you resolve your dispute. I recommend you use caution and consider not telling them anything you wouldn’t want your spouse to know. Most mediation involves being in a room on a weekday during the day, discussing both of your points of view on the issues (parenting time, child support, etc). If there is emotional abuse or it won’t be productive to be in the same room, the Family Justice counsellor can do a shuttle mediation where she or he goes back and forth between two different rooms. And for simple issues, a telephone call made by the counsellor to your spouse might make a difference.

Completing the financial forms for a lawyer or the court:

One of the first things a lawyer will ask for is financial information. They might ask you to fill out a form with your income, your spouse’s income, and a list of your assets (plus their value). Or they might ask you to provide copies of tax returns, credit card statements, mortgage statements, etc. If you go to Provincial Court to get an order for child support or spousal support, you will have to fill out a Form 4. For Supreme Court, it is the Form F8. I recommend that you create an Excel spreadsheet on your computer, or use a notebook you’ll keep in a safe spot, to start compiling the numbers. I also recommend that you use a file folder or a box and put everything related to the legal aspect of your separation of divorce in there.

Add these to your physical file folder or box:

  • marriage certificate
  • prenuptual agreement (if you have one)
  • tax returns and account statements that you already have in paper form (vs electronic)
  • any paper forms or documents that you create or receive during this process

On your computer, create a file folder and put a copy of these electronic PDFs and other documents in it:

  • mortgage statements
  • your T1 tax return for the past three years
  • your spouse’s T1 tax return for the past three years (if you have access to it)
  • joint bank account statements
  • other bank account statements
  • spreadsheet you create with a list of your assets and their value, as well as a list of your debt
  • spreadsheet you create with a list of your family’s monthly and annual expenses

To calculate the value of some assets:

  • Homes that you own: look up the assessed value or look at what similar homes in your neighbourhood are selling for
  • Vehicles that you own: look on AutoTrader, Craigslist or another local classifieds source to see what dealers are asking for similar vehicles (with similar km), and deduct 10% for negotiation room
  • Boats, musical instruments, ATVs, collections or other expensive items: look on FaceBook Marketplace or Craigslist to see what other people are asking for their similar items
  • Investments: look at the value on the most recent statement and use that amount
  • Pensions: are complicated – contact your pension company and ask what the options are and request that they calculate the value of your pension

For many people, this process is a stressful task. Sometimes people don’t want to look at the numbers. For others it is somewhat foreign because their spouse dealt with the financial decisions. Another challenge is that you need to give an approximate number for some things, such as how much you spend on clothes for yourself and your kids, even though it might vary quite a bit each month. Try to keep working on it, a little at a time.