Contrary to what many people think, family law is not limited to situation of a divorce. It is involved in cases related to support owed to one’s parents, to grandparent’s rights to have time with their grandchildren, to legal and dative tutorship, to child and spousal support obligations, to pension plans and inheritance, to taxes, donations and loans, to solidary liability of spouses, to marriage contracts, pre-nuptial agreements and partition of property, and so on.
Ideally, the best family lawyer one might get is the one with significant experience in all those areas. In practice though, lawyers in legal teams discuss, exchange and research to strengthen your negotiation position and your representation in Court if necessary.
What do you come to your family lawyer with
Usually, for the first consultation with your family lawyer you bring your doubts, your complains, your plans, your hopes, your outrage, your burdens… and some disorganized facts. Often such a conversation helps you to put everything in perspective and understand better your own expectations.
Yet it might be even better if you also take with you all the documents related to the situation: copies of your and your children’s birth certificates, of a marriage certificate, of notarial acts regarding your marriage contract and property purchased, of your hypothecs and loans, of your family income tax declarations for a couple of past years, police reports (if any), medical assessments, photos, recordings, etc.
And even better again would be if you bring your notes with your story facts organized in a timeline: on this date you met, on this date you married, bought a house, gave birth to your children, started a gambling problem, underwent a surgery, changed your job and so forth.
In a complete ideal all of this you’d send to your family lawyer in advance, together with the questions you’d like to discuss. This would allow you and your lawyer to concentrate on solutions more than on the complaints when you come.
Truly family lawyer
There are situations when you need a family lawyer in the same way as a family doctor. A lawyer knowing your family, its legal problems and history, situations of your children, their plans to marry, adopt a child, intentions to prepare a Will and a Protection mandate – such a lawyer would do better because he(she) would know the big picture. Some lawyers (as some doctors) assist the same family through generations. Of course, this might seem like a luxury nowadays, but only until someone in the family gets in trouble or some complicated matter appears.
Allen Madelin Lawyers provide consultations and representation in family law cases. In need, please contact us by phone: 1 514 904 4017 or by email: [email protected].
