Legal advice needed from a family lawyer

[Mayer]

I thought I'd come to CP for some legal advice.

I won't go into specifics but the situation is that I recently married a girl who has a 3.5 year old from a previous relationship (they were never married and dated only on and off). He has recently started to use his lawyer to try and flex his muscles a little bit and we just have a few things we are unsure of as far as our rights go.

I should also say that we HAVE gone to see a lawyer here in Calgary recently but the problem is that she isn't as familiar with BC family law (my wife lived in BC up until our wedding last weekend and all of the court dates have been in BC). She gave us some really good advice and is going to check on some things she wasn't familiar with but I thought if there was someone on here who was knowledgeable in both BC and Alberta family law, then they might be able to straighten some things out for us.

If this is you, please PM me and I'll flesh out a few more of the details.

[Calgaryborn]

I'm not sure even if there was a family lawyer from B.C. on this site that they would be interested in giving free advice. If you know someone who can get to a B.C. court house or government agency there is a few very helpful pamphlets you can get there.

A big factor is if this fellow has joint guardianship with your wife or joint custody. That makes a world of difference. Even if he has neither he could be obligated to pay child support if your wife wants him to.

[jar_e]

nm.

[Mayer]

And yes, I realize not everyone will want to hand out free advice but the questions are very general and there may be a need for us to hire a lawyer in the near future so there may be some business in it for somebody

[speede5]

In your next petition to the court ask to have the jurisdiction(?) changed to Alberta since that is now the primary residence. We had a similar thing happen with my wife's ex. It never happened, he settled, but it was a good bargaining chip. Until then you need a BC lawyer to handle everything remotely for you.

[AR_Six]

Originally Posted by Mayer

I should also say that we HAVE gone to see a lawyer here in Calgary recently but the problem is that she isn't as familiar with BC family law (my wife lived in BC up until our wedding last weekend and all of the court dates have been in BC). She gave us some really good advice and is going to check on some things she wasn't familiar with.

Wait wait wait, you went to a Calgary lawyer who was willing to advise you on the ins and outs of BC law? How does that work? She can't practice in that area unless she is called to the bar in BC and insured for the practice of BC law... anything else violates law society rules.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

Wait wait wait, you went to a Calgary lawyer who was willing to advise you on the ins and outs of BC law? How does that work? She can't practice in that area unless she is called to the bar in BC and insured for the practice of BC law... anything else violates law society rules.

Easy. She is trying to help. It is fine to check some things and let them know and then advise for more detailed work to hire a person familiar with BC laws. He was explicit in his post that is the major concern.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

Wait wait wait, you went to a Calgary lawyer who was willing to advise you on the ins and outs of BC law? How does that work? She can't practice in that area unless she is called to the bar in BC and insured for the practice of BC law... anything else violates law society rules.

The Law Society rules have changed - you can practice in another jurisdiction (reciprocation). Of course, it's incumbent upon you to know the law or you risk an insurance claim.

[AR_Six]

Apparently you're right, though the insurance is required. Which is curious; I practice in a federal area it never causes an issue for me but my colleagues are very careful not to cross that line and immediately refer to the Vancouver office for any BC questions (and vice versa).

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

Apparently you're right, though the insurance is required. Which is curious; I practice in a federal area it never causes an issue for me but my colleagues are very careful not to cross that line and immediately refer to the Vancouver office for any BC questions (and vice versa).

Well, I think that's more internal firm turf stuff, rather than anything else. In my field, we are happy to get BC business because there is no "cap" there.

[afc wimbledon]

Nothing to do with a point of law here but I will chime in a bit with my thoughts, when my wife and I divorced my major fear was that she would take my daughter and move back to Winnipeg where she came from, she didn't thank god but you see these basket case kids that get sent across the country to spend time with their parents in the summer, screws everyone up involved.

If you and your now wife want to do the best for her child, assuming the father had some involvement in the lads life, then you should live near him in BC.
You will probably not like this advice, I will point out though that in a few years time when you and your wife have children, if, God forbid, it doesn't work out, how will you feel if she decides to move back to BC with your kids to be closer to her parents or the like.

When approaching this try to think what is best for your step son, bearing in mind this other guy is, and always will be, his dad and an important part of his life, try to behave towards him the way you would like your wife to behave towards you if there was a problem in the future and remember, what ever you do you will have to justify to a surly pissed off teenager in about ten years time, make damn sure you are not trying to explain why you effed up his life and took his dad away from him.

Trust me on this as well, there is nothing so bad as lying in bed at night sobbing in the fear that you might have your kid taken away from you and dragged across the country, I truely wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy and I hope you never have to go through it.

[CaptainCrunch]

Waiting for the day that we see a post

Oh my god, there's a body in my trunk I need legal advice.

Folllowed in the buy and sell section by

LF - Wood Chipper and a bag of lye

[Mayer]

Originally Posted by speede5

In your next petition to the court ask to have the jurisdiction(?) changed to Alberta since that is now the primary residence. We had a similar thing happen with my wife's ex. It never happened, he settled, but it was a good bargaining chip. Until then you need a BC lawyer to handle everything remotely for you.

The Lawyer we spoke to yesterday in Calgary mentioned that the longer this goes on with us living in Calgary, the more likely the courts would move the jurisdiction to Alberta if we asked. How long were you living in Alberta before you brought up changing the jurisdiction?

[troutman]

I'll say it again - don't talk about your legal issues in a public forum.

[speede5]

We are actually in sk, and had been for about a year when things got goofy. In the end everything was settled prior to court, and we didn't push the change. It was a good bargaining chip though.