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Does judge see both spouses in person at divorce finalization?

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  • Does judge see both spouses in person at divorce finalization?

    Does judge see both spouses in person (at court) at divorce finalization and ask them the following questions:

    1- Did you get the ILA or not?
    2- Who prepared your separation agreement?

    I heard that if you tell the judge that your separation agreement is not drafted by a lawyer then they reject it. Is it true for Ontario?

  • #2
    Originally posted by db143 View Post
    Does judge see both spouses in person (at court) at divorce finalization and ask them the following questions:

    1- Did you get the ILA or not?
    2- Who prepared your separation agreement?

    I heard that if you tell the judge that your separation agreement is not drafted by a lawyer then they reject it. Is it true for Ontario?
    99.9% of the time it gets rejected because it contains nonsense garbage that is not legal or couldn't be enforced as written. So they don't reject it because you didn't get legal advice... It is that you SHOULD have gotten legal advice because writing an enforceable agreement for 99.9% of the population is not a simple task.

    A judge will NOT put forward anything if it is full of nonsense or if child support isn't properly done etc...

    Get a lawyer if you are asking this basic of a question. A lawyer does way more than just litigate. They actually understand the complexity of what needs to go into an agreement and how it should be written.

    You don't need the lawyer to "represent" you per-say nor does it signal you are "going to court". You can retain a lawyer on what is called a "limited retainer". They act as a consultant and you can have the review, draft and be your ILA.

    Good Luck!
    Tayken

    Comment


    • #3
      Hi Tayken, thanks for your reply. Do you know any lawyer here in GTA or Barrie, ON area who provides unbundled or limited retainer services? I had a short phone consultation with a lawyer here in Barrie, ON and she was asking to deposit $3000 to $5000 retainer fee.

      Comment


      • #4
        I’m a family lawyer in the GTA and always take at least a $3,000 retainer I’m happy to refund what isn’t used, but it takes a certain amount of work to get things done properly.

        Comment


        • #5
          That said if I was convinced the scope of work could be done for significantly less, I would take a smaller retainer. Call around, see what you can find.

          Don’t however assure the lawyer it’s a “simple matter”. That’s always code for us that “I want it to be simple so I don’t have to pay a lot”

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Kinso View Post
            That said if I was convinced the scope of work could be done for significantly less, I would take a smaller retainer. Call around, see what you can find.

            Don’t however assure the lawyer it’s a “simple matter”. That’s always code for us that “I want it to be simple so I don’t have to pay a lot”

            I was very lucky when our agreement was prepared..they took $2500 retainer and returned some of it...but no property or children involved, one of the top firms in my city

            Comment

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