This column is coming out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health authorities across Canada, and the world, have issued protocols for limiting the spread of the virus. Many family courts are only hearing “urgent” matters. The court has heard cases during this time that speak to a specific set of circumstances in our history. However, the […]
About Sarah Dargatz
Sarah Dargatz has been practicing family law since 2009. She is currently a partner at Latitude Family Law LLP.
FAMILY | The Legal Status of the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines
March 3, 2020 By Sarah Dargatz
The Divorce Act sets out the factors that a judge considers when ordering one ex-partner to pay spousal support (also knows as “partner support” or “spousal maintenance”) to the other ex-partner. The factors in provincial family law legislation that applies to unmarried couples, such as Alberta’s Family Law Act, often mirror the Divorce Act. Before […]
Common Misconceptions about Family Law
November 1, 2019 By Sarah Dargatz
It’s not unusual for someone to come see me and have some misconceptions about how the law or the legal process works. Previous articles and columns in LawNow have addressed many of these misconceptions. In this article, I’ll address a few others. 1. I can trade “parental rights” for the obligation to pay child support. […]
Alternatives to Court: Mediation
May 3, 2019 By Sarah Dargatz
In the first column in this series, John-Paul Boyd introduced basic alternatives to resolving family law disputes in court. In the second column, I wrote about the Collaborative process. In the last issue, John-Paul Boyd explained arbitration. In this column, I’m going to talk about mediation. Mediation is a process where you and the other […]
Alternatives to Court: The Collaborative Process
January 3, 2019 By Sarah Dargatz
John-Paul Boyd explained why people might want to find an alternative to court to reach a resolution about their family law disputes in the November/December 2018 issue of LawNow. One alternative to court is the Collaborative process. Many processes, such a negotiation or mediation, can be “collaborative”, meaning cooperative or amicable. However, here I am […]
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