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OK, my STBX and I have agreed on almost everything including the house and finances. To get mortgage approval, we need a separation agreement. What is the next step? I suspect we need it drafted up by someone before we go to our lawyers to have it signed? Who do we talk to about that?
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You get the lawyers to draft it and it will cost you a couple thousand dollars each. However it will protect you long into the future from any attempt to return to court and change terms if that is important to you. It is essentially a contract.
A proper separation agreement with full financial disclosure and independent legal advice will ensure that all relevant points of legislation are dealt with and there was no unconscionable terms or duress...all critical to ensuring your Agreement is bulletproof and unable to be overturned.
If you don't have much and not much is at stake, you could do your own but if you have assets and CS and SS, get it done right. Where do-it-yourselfers might write that CS will continue if the Children continue to post secondary , a lawyer will make sure it says "full time attendance at a recognized and accredited post secondary institution with passing grades". Little things like that can kill you down the road.
Let's not forget all the tax clauses that can affect the parties.
If you can find an excellent sample agreement in your law library you might be okay but you will need at least independent legal advice if you ask me. -
only cost me 1500 and my lawyer wrote the agreement and there were some changes so it went back and forth once. My ex paid more for his lawyer but he ran up his bill by using her as a therapist, emailed her to complain that I wasnt doing his laundry etc LOL. We were both living in the house and he figured it should be like normal, I should do all the housecleaning and laundry. I told him to get his new gf to do his laundry and he actually took it to her place after only dating her for about a week.Comment
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You do not need a lawyer to draft your separation agreement if you are willing to do some research and do the work on your own. Also, if your ex is "willing and able" to work as a team to make sure a "fair" agreement is reached. Sounds like you already have that...
We drafted our own agreement (losely based on some of the information found on this site ie: what to include) and a self-help kit from the bookstore. We have children together so our agreement included CS, Access and Parenting Plan. SS was waived by both of us.
Once we had the agreement worded the way we wanted it...we each took a copy to our lawyers. My lawyer was impressed about what we covered...brought up some concerns over vagueness in one section...and basically said we had done an amazing job, having no legal background.
His lawyer changed 1 thing around the wording for Spousal Support (basically that I wouldn't come back later for it)...and he basically said the same thing...amazing job, having no legal background.
His lawyer sent us our final copies...with the change he made. I took them to my lawyer to have signed...and my lawyers office couriered them to his lawyer for signing...one copy with final signatures was couriered to me.
...once we had our agreement finalized ourselves the whole "lawyer" process took 1 week.
The courts had no issues at all with our separation agreement when it came time to file our divorce papers (which we also did ourselves with a kit from our local courthouse).
My total cost for separation/divorce under $800.00
My ex's total cost for separation/divorce under $2000.00 (he used his lawyer more for extra consulting).
Note: before the whole process began we each agreed that instead of putting our lawyers children through school...we'd save a much as possible on the lawyer fees for ourselves. We estimated the money we "could have spent" on lawyers was around $10k each. So, since he'd already spent $2k...we each put $8k into our children's RESP...priceless
I put the difference for myself...$1200 into a childrens savings account.
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If both parties know what they want and are able to articulate it coherently - for example in a written list - a separation agreement does not need to cost a couple thousand. It is not unheard of for people to split the cost of the agreement and each pay for their independent legal advice.You get the lawyers to draft it and it will cost you a couple thousand dollars each.
Sound advice. Although even if your assets are low, if there are children involved it is better to make sure the job is done right (read: have someone else's insurance liable if it isn't).If you don't have much and not much is at stake, you could do your own but if you have assets and CS and SS, get it done right. Where do-it-yourselfers might write that CS will continue if the Children continue to post secondary , a lawyer will make sure it says "full time attendance at a recognized and accredited post secondary institution with passing grades". Little things like that can kill you down the road.
The same can be said for almost anything. You hire a lawyer for the same reason you pay someone to fix your furnace - because if the job is not done well then things can go to hell very quickly and at very high price.You do not need a lawyer to draft your separation agreement if you are willing to do some research and do the work on your own.
Your children will appreciate that sort of parenting for many years to come.we each put $8k into our children's RESP...priceless I put the difference for myself...$1200 into a childrens savings account.Comment
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Thanks folks. We are doing everything we can to keep the lawyers to a minimum simply because we both know that the less we use them, the more money we will keep in our accounts and have for our kids. Like unsaid before, we have agreed on almost everything including, house, finances, support and pension. We simply have to go thru the house and divide up items. Not too worried about that considering we were able to settle the big items without too much (wasn't perfect) trouble.
So from what I am reading, we could draft up an itemized list and take it to the legal beagles and have it looked over, adjusted and signed?Comment
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Check out this thread on here...has lots of advice for what to include and how to word things...
http://www.ottawadivorce.com/forum/f...greement-7058/
...remember, you will need to have independant legal advice prior to signing.Comment
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