Trilogy Family Law
Edmonton Family Lawyer
At Trilogy Family Law, our aim is help you and your family move through your family transition as quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively as possible. We offer a range of options for resolving your issues without going to court. If settlement is not possible, Deb is an experienced litigator who advocates for her clients’ interests. Clients say they appreciate working with Trilogy Family Law because Deb advocates for her clients and puts people — especially children — first.
Client Testimonials
Experience in all levels of Court in Alberta
Trained mediator, arbitrator and parenting coordinator
About Trilogy Family Law
About Trilogy Family Law
Remote Services:
Trilogy Family Law is committed to offering the highest quality of service. Our services can be provided remotely so we can assist clients in a safe, efficient and effective manner. We understand that our clients often come to us overwhelmed by the legal issues that they face. By providing remote services, we offer clients the opportunity to resolve their legal matter without the added cost or stress of visiting our office in person. This also allows us to provide legal services to clients throughout Alberta who may not have access to a family lawyer in their home community.
Alternate Dispute Resolution Services:
Our objective is to help clients resolve conflict. There are many options for clients, including mediation, arbitration, settlement meetings, or going to court. Our team will help you find the course of action that is right for your situation and your family.
Sliding Scale Pricing:
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, Trilogy Family Law is, at this time, prepared to discuss sliding-scale pricing on a case-by-case basis for those whose financial circumstances are affected by the pandemic. In certain circumstances, deferred or partially deferred payment is possible. Trilogy Family Law can also offer legal services through a limited-scope retainer. Please contact us to discuss.
We listen to clients’ needs first and work with you to resolve complex matters during some of the most important and challenging moments of your life.
Trilogy Family Law Services
Who We Are
Deb
Senior Lawyer
Family law has been Deb’s exclusive area of practice for almost three decades.
Deb obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta in 1991. After obtaining experience in civil litigation and family law, she knew she wanted to focus solely on family law. She has extensive experience in complex family law matters including common law marriages (Adult Interdependent Relationships), property division, child and spousal support, custody (including high conflict), access and parenting.
Deb’s focus is on empowering her clients to make the best decision for them and their families as cost- effectively as possible. Her experience and insight direct her focus as she works with clients to identify and execute the best path through her clients’ family legal situation, whether through settlement meetings, mediation, arbitration, parenting coordination or court.
Deb is trained as a mediator, a parenting coordinator, an arbitrator and in collaborative law. However, Deb does not practice “collaborative law” in its strictest sense. Her concern is that if the formal “collaborative law” process breaks down, both parties must retain new lawyers, and start the legal process from the beginning again. To start the process again is extremely expensive and time consuming. Deb’s personal view is that family lawyers should behave and attempt to act collaboratively on every file, using every effort to settle matters; if it can’t settle, the best lawyer to take the matter to court is the lawyer who tried to settle.
Deb has volunteered extensively within the community and the legal community, including: serving as competency evaluator for the Legal Education Society of Alberta; sitting on and chairing the Edmonton Regional Legal Aid Committee; acting as a Child Support Resolution Officer; and teaching “Law for the Layperson” through Continuing Education.
Membership and Associations:
- Law Society of Alberta
- Law Society of British Columbia (retired)
- Canadian Bar Association
- Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
- Alberta Mediation Society
- Family Mediation Canada
FAQ
- You may be contemplating living with your partner, and you may want to know the law and your legal rights first. You may also be contemplating a separation, and want to know the law and your legal rights before taking any steps towards separation.
- If you have been served with court documents, we recommend scheduling a consultation with a lawyer quickly, so that you can become aware of the options available to you.
- Many transactions and agreement between ex-spouses and ex-partners require the involvement of a lawyer, particularly when an agreement is made about property. Lawyers are also best equipped to help with areas of the law like spousal support, retroactive child support and child support for adult children, where the Court requires substantial information to make a decision.
- If you are served with a court document, it is possible that you have only a short period of time in which you must respond. We recommend consulting with a lawyer as soon as possible so that you can find out more about your legal rights and your options.
- You do not need to bring anything with you, however, we can only provide you with information and advice based on what you choose to share. If you are contemplating a divorce, it will save time if you bring your marriage certificate and a photograph of your spouse. If you have at least one child who is 16 years old or younger, you will be required to take the three-hour Parenting After Separation course, which is available online and for free.
- In family matters, there are often time-sensitive issues that require us to get in contact with clients quickly. Please keep your contact information up to date. Check your e-mails regularly and ensure that your voicemail is functional. If you notice a missed call from our office, please call us back or send us an e-mail and tell us when you will be available to speak to us.
- You can minimize your legal fees by carefully reading the documents that we send, and providing a complete response in a timely manner when we ask questions. This will avoid follow-up calls from our office requesting more information. Please avoid sending multiple e-mails in one day if there is no emergency, as it will take longer for us to find and compare multiple e-mails than it does to read a single e-mail.
- It is not efficient for both parties in a case to spend $100.00 to go to court to argue over $100.00. It is important to prioritize the most important issues and goals during the course of litigation, and to focus on resolution in the long term.
- Every divorce is different, and it often depends on the issues, and the willingness of the parties to compromise and discuss their options.
- “Custody” refers to the legal rights and responsibilities that parents and guardians have towards children. Custody is often tied to the ability to make decisions about a child’s education, childcare, religion and medical care. “Parenting time” refers to the plan or arrangement that determines when a child is in the care of one parent or the other. For example, parents could have joint custody and agree for the parenting time with their child to be split unequally because one parent works out of town two weeks out of three.
- “Custody” is a term currently used in the Divorce Act. Amendments to the Divorce Act will come into force on July 1, 2020, which will remove the terms “custody” and “access” from the Act, and replace them with “decision-making responsibility” and “parenting time”. The Alberta Family Law Act, which applies to couples who were not married, already uses the new terms. It is possible for a parent or guardian to have parenting time and no decision-making responsibility, or vice-versa.
- Deb has extensive experience with custody litigation including high-conflict matters. Parties may seek a decision from the court to decide who has custody (or decision-making responsibility), but there are other ways to deal with this issue including mediation and settlement discussions.
- Child support is calculated using the Federal or Provincial Child Support Guidelines, which take into account the income of the person paying child support, the province that they reside in, and the number of children that they are paying child support for.
- There is no automatic entitlement to spousal support (or partner support if the parties lived in a marriage-like relationship but were not married). Every case is different, and the amount of spousal support that is appropriate will depend on a number of factors, including how long the parties lived together and how they managed their finances during their relationship.
- Your gender or the gender of your lawyer does not provide an advantage or a disadvantage in family court.
- Adultery refers to infidelity between spouses, and it is one of the three grounds for divorce. In Canada, couples can finalize a divorce one year after they separate. Although in theory, adultery can be used to shorten the amount of time that married couples must be separated before they can get a divorce, in practice, the process of proving adultery may take as long or longer than waiting for the one year to pass after separation.
- You can apply for a divorce even if your partner does not agree.
- There is no such thing as a “legal separation”. The date of separation occurs when one person informs their partner that they no longer wish to be in a marriage or a marriage-like relationship. Parties can still be separated even if they are still living together (for example, if they are sleeping in separate rooms or no longer behaving as though they are in a relationship). Divorce is a legal process, and only applies to married people. In order for parties to obtain a divorce, typically, they must have been separated for a minimum of one year. In certain situations (cruelty or adultery), a divorce can be finalized after only three months of separation. Regardless of when a divorce can be finalized, the divorce process can be commenced as early as the date of separation.
- There are two options. The first is to come to an agreement with the other party through negotiation, mediation, judicial dispute resolution or a combination of those options. The second option is to go to court and have a Judge or Justice make the decision for you.
Mediation is a process in which (rather than “where”) the parties agree to attend a
meeting with a neutral party who can help them come to an agreement. Mediation is
confidential and “without prejudice”, which means that the discussions during the
mediation cannot be used in court. A mediator does not impose a decision on the
parties, but can draft a document if the parties come to an agreement. This agreement
is legally binding and sets out everything that the parties have agreed to do. This
“Memorandum of Agreement” will usually form the basis of a formal “Settlement
Agreement”, to be reviewed by the parties’ lawyers prior to signing. The role of the
mediator is to facilitate communication and help the parties problem-solve so that theycan focus on the issues. This process is faster than going to court, helps preserve the
relationship between the parties, and gives them the most control over the process. A
mediator can help with issues relating to children, property and financial support, as
well as other issues that the court may not have the time, expertise or ability to address.
Mediation can take place in person or remotely, by way of telephone conferences or
videoconference calls.
Arbitration is a dispute resolution process in which (rather than “where”) the parties
hire a neutral third party to make a legally binding decision and resolve the dispute for
them. The parties can agree to a process as to how they will submit their evidence, how
and when a hearing will proceed, and who will act as the arbitrator. Arbitration is similar
to the court process in that a decision is made, but it is faster and the parties can select
an arbitrator with experience in family law, rather than having their matter decided by a
judge who may not have a background in family law. Arbitration is a confidential
process, which allows parties to keep their personal and business information private.
At the end of the process, the Arbitrator writes a decision, called an “Arbitration
Award”. If one of the parties does not respect the decision of the arbitrator, the other
party can apply to the court to have the Arbitration Award enforced.
Mediation/Arbitration is a hybrid process that encourages parties to come to an
agreement first through mediation, but if the parties are not able to agree, the parties
switch to an arbitration process and the mediator-arbitrator makes a legally binding
decision.
Parenting coordination is a child-focused dispute resolution process for families in which
the parents are separated. Parenting coordination is not defined or regulated in Alberta,
but Deb is an accredited family law parenting coordinator under the Family Law Act
(italicized) in British Columbia and is trained as a parenting coordinator. A parenting
coordinator is a lawyer or a mental health professional with experience working with
high-conflict families, knowledge of family law and extensive training on child
development and the effect of conflict and separation on children. A parenting
coordinator is a neutral party who helps parents implement their parenting plans by
resolving day-to-day disputes in a timely manner, and developing healthy
communication and conflict resolution strategies with the parties. The parenting
coordinator meets with the parties, and can meet with the children, mental health
professionals, teachers or any other professional that the parties agree can provide
additional information. The role of the parenting coordinator is to help the parties
resolve their disputes by agreement, and to provide a legally binding decision quickly if
the parties cannot agree. A parenting coordinator can only make decisions on issues
that the parties have agreed will be resolved by the parenting coordinator in a retainer
agreement. These issues can include adjustments to parenting time, registration in
extra-curricular activities, managing holiday schedules and making plans for pick-up and
drop-off of the children. The decisions of the parenting coordinator are not privileged or
confidential, and may be used in court if one party does not follow or decides to appealthe decision of the parenting coordinator. Parenting coordination is usually a long-term
process, where the parties learn to manage the parenting issues by themselves over
time by working with the parenting coordinator.
- Although the views and opinion of an older child may be taken into account by the Court in making a decision about a parenting arrangement, it is the Court that makes the decision about the residence of the child if the parents and guardians do not agree.
- Financial disclosure provides your complete financial picture to your ex, and it is required where property division, child support, and spousal support are at issue. Financial disclosure consists of: your last three years’ income tax return statements, and notices of assessment or reassessment; your most recent paystub indicating your year-to-date earnings; a list of your assets and liabilities, including bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, lines of credits, and vehicles; and any other records pertaining to your financial circumstances.
- You cannot make your ex pay for all of your legal fees. However, if your matter does proceed to court and a decision is made in your favour, you may in a position to apply for something called “costs”, which compels your ex to pay a portion of your legal fees as determined by the Court.
- Yes. The issues of child support and parenting time are separate, and the payments of child support by one parent is not affected by the other parents withholding a child or children.
- A limited-scope retainer is an agreement for a lawyer to take on part, but not all of a client’s matter. For example, a lawyer could agree to provide independent legal advice about a contract or an agreement only, or to draft court documents but not appear in court.
- Trilogy Family Law is committed to increasing access to justice for Albertans. We accept Legal Aid certificates, however, as we are a small firm, the amount of cases that we can accept is dictated by our limited resources. As a result, we are unable to accept every request for legal representation on a Legal Aid certificate. Please contact Legal Aid Alberta about eligibility criteria at www.legalaid.ab.ca