Best Family Law Attorneys in Kanata, ON

A separation agreement sets out the terms that you and your ex have agreed will govern going forward. Often a separation agreement will help you to manage your income and your assets and will set out how you will parent and financially support your children. Your bank might need you to have a separation agreement to purchase a new home, or to secure a mortgage.

No. You need a divorce, which can only be granted by a judge, if you want to remarry. A separation agreement is a good idea whether you intend to remarry or not, because it can address the issues that a separating couple need to to sort: things like division of property, parenting, child support, and spousal support.

If you and your ex are in agreement about all of the major terms of your separation agreement, you are likely to save time and money in papering the agreement. However, each party needs to understand what he or she is signing, and the way to ensure and establish that both parties have that understanding is to encourage each party to obtain independent legal advice.

The timeline varies on many things, including the complexity of the issues, the organization of the parties, the willingness of both parties to cooperate, and the emotional readiness of each party to conclude the issues arising out of their separation. We have a number of tools to make the process more efficient and streamlined. For example, using a collaborative process ensures that you talk respectfully and efficiently about the important issues, and that you do not get bogged down in needless conflict about things that do not matter.

In very general terms, in Ontario, for a married couple who is separating, and assuming there is no cohabitation agreement or marriage contract that says otherwise, the Family Law Act provides that each couple should leave the marriage with half of the value of the assets that were accumulated during the marriage, after subtracting debts. This is called a division of net family property, and it is very advisable to get legal advice about how this principle might apply to your individual situation. Note that different laws about division of property apply to common law couples.