Law Times

Page 12 June 19, 2017 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com FOCUS At Sheppard, McGirr often gets a first appearance on a fam- ily law case within six weeks or two months, followed by a case conference in front of a judge to narrow down the issues. But in cases where that's not kept in check, there might be several case conferences, causing the case to drag on. That can be frustrating, es- pecially for those on a Legal Aid certificate that only al- lows certain amounts of time. For example, only four hours is allotted for case conferences. McGirr says this is "completely unrealistic if you have a person on the other side of the case who doesn't have a lawyer." In a focused hearing, an un- represented litigant will often take the stand to tell their story and will be directed by the judge and kept on focus. "Litigation is a downside. It is always in your best interest to try to negotiate a settlement wher- ever possible," McGirr says. Lauren Israel, a sole family law practitioner in Toronto who often finds herself at the Shep- phard courthouse, sees focused hearings taking hold elsewhere. She finds they are a good fit when there are only one or two outstanding issues, particularly when one of them involves child access issues. For the few cases that do fi- nally end up at trial, a focused hearing is a way to address the issues quickly and share their stories, she says. "Rule 1 now gives judges a fair amount of discretion with respect to how to set up that final hearing. And a focused hearing is a trial and it's a final hearing, but it can be managed in a vari- ety of ways," she says. "It does not necessarily prolong the matter . . . it's just done in a manner that tries to streamline the process in order to get the just result in the least amount of time." LT But more complicated situ- ations might have clients seek- ing more extensive information from their former partner, such as corporation financial state- ments, corporation tax returns, detailed banking documents, copies of the books and records of the company and other relat- ed information. Maisel says the more com- plicated the case is, the more lengthy and involved the process becomes. The process usually begins with a request for information, but often the complicated cases get bogged down in the disclo- sure phase, as one party may think that the other party's re- quest is over-reaching or unrea- sonable. Financial statements, re- quired in divorce cases, require a list of income from all sources, detailed living expenses, the val- ue of property and the extent of debts and liabilities. And while financial state- ments are the core documents in adjudication, they might require some adjusting or be incorpo- rated into other calculations for the family law application, adds Brian Ludmer, a family law and business lawyer at LudmerLaw in Toronto. They are also untested and might have to undergo some scrutiny by an outside accoun- tant. But Ludmer warns there is risk in putting too much reliance on financial statements. Tax returns have a different purpose and provide a starting point for calculations, he says. They are not definitive be- cause the tax system is based on self-assessment, so there could well be room for further exami- nation. "All the source documents . . . should lead to a further round of inquiries and a further round of disclosure requests," Ludmer says, adding that clients may wish to consider the value of spending effort and money to gain the information. "There's a broad base of knowledge that has to be brought to bear in asking for source doc- uments . . .," he says. After the documents are ob- tained, Ludmer recommends going through them carefully. "[I]t's kind of a synthesized re- view of all the source documents as a group to see if the story fits or whether there is leakage some- where and where the red f lags are to follow up on. "Sometimes, it only becomes apparent once you have every- thing," he says. For example, he points to ex- amining business journals for business activity and other re- lated documents in examining gross revenue. In measuring that against HST returns, credit card and banking statements, inconsis- tencies might become apparent. If there's no indication of where the phone bills are being paid, for instance, there might be a hole in the documentation. But if a sampling of docu- ments shows no inconsistencies, Ludmer says, it may be pointless to look further. "The real caution is about knowing the breadth of what to ask for and then knowing how to use what you get," says Ludmer. Alexander is a proponent of alternative dispute resolution in family law. The collaborative approach, which sees both sides agreeing to full disclosure and negotiation following a certain set of rules and co-operating, forms a sig- nificant part of his practice. The goal is to keep the case out of court and the costs down. "We have at first glance a chaotic situation, and that's why there are constructive solutions for lawyers and people who are going through separation and divorce to work co-operatively to save time and expense," says Alexander. LT Continued from page 10 Negotiation better Compromise can be part of process Continued from page 11 CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS Paula McGirr says it is 'always in your best interest to try to negotiate a settlement wherever possible.' Your legacy of compassion ANIMAL ALLIANCE OF CANADA For estate and bequest information please contact Lia Laskaris Phone (416) 462-9541 221 Broadview Avenue, Suite101Toronto, Ontario M4M 2G3 www.animalalliance.ca E-mail:contact@animalalliance.ca Registration Number 265187-4 Untitled-2 1 2015-02-17 10:31 AM CALLING ALL CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS! To advertise in our next charitable organizations issue, contact us at 416-649-8841 or MediaSolutions.Sales@thomsonreuters.com Untitled-3 1 2014-10-15 9:16 AM

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