If you have decided to uncouple from your spouse, and you want to clarify and resolve the legal issues between the two of you, then you are ready to start on the path toward a Separation Agreement.

In British Columbia, a Separation Agreement, properly drafted with each party having independent legal advice, can be filed at the court registry and take on the force and effect of a court order. When you have a Separation Agreement you have a final and legally binding resolution of all financial issues between you and your spouse. When you have a Separation Agreement, you are considered to be legally separated.

A divorce order in Canada allows the spouses to remarry, but it does not resolve the financial issues or division of family property between the spouses. This is because divorce law in Canada is federal law, but property division in BC is governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia. You can get an order for divorce in Canada and still have the financial issues between the two of you unresolved. The clock starts running, though, when the divorce order is granted, triggering a time limit in which you must bring a claim for an interest in the property of your spouse, including pension benefits, or you lose that chance forever. For this, and many other reasons, if you are walking towards a final Separation Agreement, you need legal advice. A Separation Agreement may be the most important legal document you will sign in your life.

If you are uncoupling, it may seem you face many and complex legal and financial issues. However, there are generally only two legal issues that arise when a couple separates, and those two legal issues are the same in each and every case. The non-legal issues are the emotions, and it’s often the emotions that are driving the bus, obscuring the legal issues, making everything look complicated. Strong emotion, such as distrust, often makes easy communication more or less impossible.

The two legal issues that arise when parties are contemplating separation are

• What do we do about the children? and
• How do we resolve the financial issues?

These two legal issues are the same whether you were legally married to your spouse or not. Married or not, you still need to resolve those two legal issues if you are thinking of uncoupling permanently or temporarily from your spouse.

You will notice that neither of the two legal issues facing a separating couple have anything to do with who is at fault, or who is right and who is wrong. Starting on the road to a Separation Agreement requires both parties to put aside blame and to focus on the legal issues.

The question is: How can mutually agreeable terms of a Separation Agreement be reached if there has been a communication breakdown between the spouses due to strong emotions such as mistrust, anger or fear?

The answer is mediation or collaborative law. You can learn more about how to reach the goal of a legally enforceable Separation Agreement by calling Resolution Place to make an appointment for an initial consultation. At Resolution Place we offer an initial consultation with a lawyer for $175 including tax, and we encourage you to bring your spouse to the initial consultation to set you both on the best path to a final Separation Agreement.

Are you ready to move from blame to resolution?