What changes should be made to family law?
These proposals let family law lawyers discuss and vote on what changes they think should be made to the law or court procedures. The results can be viewed and shared with legislators and the Courts. The proposals put forth are written by member lawyers, and do not necessarily reflect the views of this website or its administrators. You can view more proposals or make a proposal yourself.
Other - Mar 20th | |||||
60% in favour out of 5 votes | |||||
 | Dawn L. Nelson, Barrister & Solicitor Edmonton, Alberta "In many courts, the parties must meet at the outset of a case to discuss various matters, including: The nature and basis of the parties' claims and defenses. The possibility of settling or resolving the case. Discovery issues, including: the preservation of discoverable information; and a discovery plan. A meet and confer often saves the parties time and money by resolving issues, including how they will conduct discovery, early in the case. Most courts also require parties to meet and confer before making discovery and other motions in an attempt for parties to resolve their disputes without the need for judicial intervention." (From Thompson Reuters Practical Law Glossary) In family law, the law is easy, it's the emotions that make it hard. As neutral professionals, we can make a lot of headway by picking up the phone to the other lawyer very early in the process and narrowing the issues before everyone becomes entrenched and positional. As a fourth mandatory prerequisite, there ought to be a form that confirms counsel have actually spoken to each other (in person or by telephone, or videoconference, not just exchange of e-mail) and have turned their mind to the five broad categories of family law legal issues (legal relationship status, parenting, child support, spousal/partner support, and division of property) and have committed to a deadline for exchange of financial disclosure. 23 hours ago 1 | ||||
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