Divorce is on the rise.

The system is broken.

My divorce has been dubbed a full Netflix series.

 

I’ve experienced and heard from many of the divorced or divorcing public about files being dragged out by incompetent, greedy, adversarial or careless lawyers and arbitrators. 

I’ve experienced and heard about bullying and harassing by professionals and ex-spouses, and I’ve heard about lawyers bankrupting families.  I have spent more than

on legal fees myself (including those to appeal our arbitrator’s significant errors; and I’m unable to appeal all of his errors because they were made by an arbitrator not a judge) and I estimate my ex-spouse has spent well in excess of

Isn’t there something wrong with a system where it costs that much to get divorced?

 

What’s most disturbing are the stories I hear about harm being done to children of divorce.  They can be the pawns in a nasty game and suffer irreparable harm in the process. Having worked with corporate/securities lawyers and commercial litigators for over 30 years as a corporate finance advisor, I have noted the stark contrast to the professional conduct and quality of the family lawyers and arbitrator on my own file, and have heard the same complaint from many other family law clients now.  A couple of years ago, I asked a friend (a senior tax lawyer in Canada) why the family lawyers I had observed seemed so inferior to the corporate/commercial lawyers.  She retorted “you’re not getting two things – first, the family lawyers are regularly at courses together and care more about their relationship with each other than ardently representing their clients; the second is that they only expect to see you once.  The commercial lawyers are trying to impress you by being efficient and effective so you’ll give them repeat business, but the family lawyers expect to see you only once.”  This was illuminating. Even many senior corporate/securities lawyers and commercial litigators have expressed their concern to me that the family lawyers generally operate at a lower conduct standard.  A couple of family lawyers from outside the local ecosystem have told me the system needs to be fixed and works better elsewhere, so it seems the ideas are available to make some changes.So, if quality lawyers and the divorcing public want the family justice system fixed, and children would presumably agree, why isn’t the public interest being served?

 

I understand Chief Justices across the country have attempted to reform the family justice system, but the process  is taking many years.  In Alberta, the plan is set and in process.  It includes a focus on preventing harm to children of divorce, including holding lawyers accountable for their part in harming children.  How will this happen?  Apparently, ethics accountability and brain science training will be requirements, and the Law Society will be the regulator. However, when asked for comment as to how lawyers will be held accountable, the Law Society is non-responsive.  Reports of professional misconduct or conflicts of interest issues seem to be swept under the rug in the hope that no one will shine a light on the issue.  It’s time the public interest is properly served and the Law Society introduces and enforces professional conduct standards, at least on par with the accountants, finance professionals, engineers, real estate agents and pharmacists.

It’s time more financial and psychology professionals are involved early on in divorce matters to avoid high conflict, high cost divorces. I, with the help of many dedicated, experienced and talented people, have created a website to help people navigate divorce better than my wasband and I did.

 

It’s the site I wish would have existed when we separated years ago. 

We will continue to add helpful information on a regular basis. It is my solemn wish that we help as many as possible avoid the pitfalls of divorce.  We want to help people navigate divorce as smoothly, quickly and fairly as possible so they can move on with their lives. Maybe we’ll even manage to force important changes in law and professional conduct standards.

 

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