In our first column in this series, I introduced the basic alternatives to resolving family law disputes in court – negotiation, mediation and arbitration – and talked about some of the surprising research on lawyers’ views about litigation. In the second column, Sarah Dargatz wrote about collaborative negotiation, a cooperative kind of negotiation in which […]

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 […]

When adults leave a serious relationship, they have a lot of decisions to make. Sometimes these are small decisions, about who can keep the dishes or the books, but more often they are big decisions. Things like where the children should mostly live, how their time will be divided, who should pay how much in […]

Domestic violence – or family violence or intimate partner violence, call it what you will – is a serious problem in both intact and separated families. According to a 2013 report from Statistics Canada, there are 252.9 victims of domestic violence per 100,000 population, and domestic violence makes up more 26 per cent of all […]

Generally, Alberta court orders are only enforceable in Alberta.  And, generally, Alberta judges can only grant family law orders about people who reside in Alberta.  However, families are mobile and many relocate from province to province or even from country to country.  Therefore, Alberta has entered into agreements with the other Canadian provinces and territories, […]