Divorce Proceedings and Spousal Disputes
ATAC LAW represents spouses through divorce in British Columbia, including negotiated separation agreements and proceedings before the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Our family lawyers carry files in which the marriage, the savings or the children sit in more than one country, and several conduct that work in Mandarin, Cantonese or Korean.
Our clients include spouses who married, spouses who lived in a marriage-like relationship, business owners, pension members, high-net-worth spouses, and newcomers whose property remains partly outside Canada.
Divorce Counsel for Complex Financial and Personal Matters
We advise at the planning stage and carry the same file through to the final order.
Our lawyers set out a client's rights and obligations before any important decision is taken, particularly where the assets or the income structure are complicated.
We resolve a separation through negotiation, mediation and settlement discussions, because that route costs a client less in conflict, money and time. Where litigation cannot be avoided, our lawyers appear prepared, and we build each case toward an order that is stable and enforceable.
We act on high-net-worth separations involving family businesses, private company interests, trusts and several properties. Our lawyers instruct accountants, financial professionals and valuation experts where a file calls for them, so that the disclosure, the valuation and the division are accurate.
Divorce is private and difficult, so we hold the file in confidence, explain the options in plain language and set expectations a client can rely on.
Divorce Services We Provide
Our family lawyers act for the spouse who starts a divorce proceeding and for the spouse who answers one. The five families below are organized by the question in dispute, not by the forum that decides the question.
A court in British Columbia can hear a divorce proceeding once either spouse has been habitually resident in the province for one year. Section 3(1) of the Divorce Act sets that requirement, and the place of the marriage does not displace the requirement. Our lawyers confirm the year before any document is filed. A proceeding commenced early is a proceeding commenced twice.
Section 8(2) of the Divorce Act establishes breakdown of a marriage by one year of living separate and apart, by adultery or by cruelty. Almost every divorce proceeds on the first ground. Section 8(3) permits reconciliation attempts totalling no more than ninety days without restarting the year. Our lawyers fix the separation date against that rule before the year is counted.
We prepare uncontested divorce applications for spouses who have already settled parenting, support and property between them. Our lawyers assemble the affidavits, registry forms and proof of marriage the registry requires. Rule 2-2 of the Supreme Court Family Rules allows a joint family law case, in which both spouses file as claimants rather than as opponents. An application of this kind is commonly called a desk order divorce, because neither spouse attends court.
We file and respond to a notice of family claim where parenting, support or property remains in dispute. Rule 7-1 of the Supreme Court Family Rules requires a judicial case conference before most applications can be heard, and our lawyers use that conference to narrow the issues on the record. Our preparation for the conference assumes the file will be tried.
A divorce takes effect on the thirty-first day after the judgment granting the divorce is rendered, under section 12(1) of the Divorce Act. Our lawyers obtain the certificate of divorce once that day passes. A remarriage or an immigration filing will call for the certificate rather than the judgment. Section 12(2) allows an earlier effective date in special circumstances where both spouses undertake not to appeal.
Section 22(1) of the Divorce Act recognizes a divorce granted abroad where either former spouse was habitually resident in that country for the year before the foreign proceeding began. Our lawyers assess the recognition before a client remarries or advances a property claim here. A marriage still subsisting in Canadian law changes what the Family Law Act permits a spouse to claim.
We negotiate separation agreements that fix support, allocate family property and record the parenting arrangements. Our lawyers draft to the statutory tests a court would apply, so the agreement holds against a later challenge. Most separating spouses want the matter closed on terms both sides can live with. An agreement reached on clear terms is what keeps a separation out of the courtroom.
We assemble and review the disclosure an agreement has to rest on, including the income documents and the Form F8 financial statement described in Rule 5-1 of the Supreme Court Family Rules. Our lawyers press for the corporate and account records behind a stated figure, not the figure alone. Disclosure gathered properly at this stage is what makes the resulting agreement durable.
Section 93(3) of the Family Law Act allows the Supreme Court to set aside a property agreement on three grounds. Failure to disclose significant property or debts is the first. Improper advantage taken of a spouse's vulnerability and a spouse's failure to understand the agreement are the other two. Section 164 applies a comparable test to spousal support agreements, and our lawyers act for the spouse applying and for the spouse defending.
We convert settled terms into a consent order where a client needs a court order in place of a contract. Our lawyers also file support terms so the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program can act on them. Enforcement depends on the form the terms are recorded in, so we settle that question before the terms are signed. An agreement sitting in a drawer and an order filed with the registry carry different weight once a payment is missed.
Section 81 of the Family Law Act gives each spouse an equal entitlement to family property and an equal responsibility for family debt. Section 84 defines family property to include shares in a corporation, money held with a financial institution and entitlements under a pension or retirement savings plan. Section 87 values that property at fair market value as of the date of the agreement or the hearing, not the date of separation.
Section 85 excludes property a spouse owned before the relationship, along with inheritances, gifts from a third party and most damages awards. The exclusion is only as good as the record tracing the asset through the relationship. Section 84(2)(g) also makes the increase in value of excluded property family property. That subsection is the point most exclusion arguments actually turn on.
Section 95 permits the Supreme Court to divide family property or family debt unequally where an equal division would be significantly unfair. The section lists the factors the court may weigh, including the duration of the relationship and one spouse's contribution to the career of the other. Our lawyers advance and resist these applications on the evidence the statutory factors call for.
Section 90 allows the Supreme Court to grant one spouse exclusive occupation of the family residence for a specified period. Section 89 allows an interim distribution of family property to fund family dispute resolution or the proceeding. Our lawyers bring these applications where a client would otherwise be unable to carry the file as far as a hearing. Cost is a live obstacle in a separation, and section 89 exists to answer that obstacle.
Part 6 of the Family Law Act divides a pension by designating the other spouse a limited member of the plan. The terms differ for a benefit formula provision and a defined contribution provision. Our lawyers work with the plan administrator on the commuted value and the transfer method for each account. A retirement asset divided on the wrong method is difficult to correct afterwards.
Section 3 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines sets child support at the applicable table amount for the payor's income and the number of children. Section 7 adds a share of special or extraordinary expenses, including child care, medical and dental premiums and post-secondary costs. Our lawyers verify the income the table amount is calculated on before agreeing to a figure. A claim of undue hardship under section 10 of those guidelines can move the figure off the table. Section 155 of the Family Law Act also lets the provincial child support service recalculate an order or a filed agreement on updated income information.
Section 161 of the Family Law Act sets the objectives deciding entitlement to spousal support, including compensation for economic advantage or disadvantage arising from the relationship. Section 162 fixes amount and duration on the conditions, means and needs of each spouse. Our lawyers build the entitlement argument the client's circumstances actually support, alongside the range the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines produce.
Section 19 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines allows a court to impute income to a spouse who is intentionally under-employed, who diverts income, or who lives where tax rates are significantly lower than in Canada. We instruct forensic accountants to follow corporate income, shareholder loans and personal benefits paid through a company. An imputed income figure frequently exceeds what a self-employed payor reports.
We apply to change, suspend or terminate support orders under Part 7 of the Family Law Act once income or circumstances have shifted materially. Our lawyers recover arrears with the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program. We also act for payors defending an enforcement step taken against them. The Provincial Court of British Columbia hears applications of this kind, and so does the Supreme Court. Section 173 gives child support priority over spousal support where both are in issue.
In British Columbia a separation is generally treated as high net worth where the spouses together hold more than $1,000,000 in liquid assets. That figure is a working threshold used in the Vancouver market, not a test in the Family Law Act. The statute divides property on the same principles above the line and below. What changes is the volume of disclosure the file carries, along with the number of valuations standing behind that disclosure.
Section 84 of the Family Law Act brings investment accounts, several properties and an interest in a professional practice within family property. Our lawyers assemble the valuation evidence for each holding, since a portfolio moves in value across the months a file runs. Section 87 fixes that value at the date of the agreement or the hearing, which makes timing a live question on a large estate.
Section 109 of the Family Law Act allows the Supreme Court to make orders about the ownership and division of extraprovincial property. Our lawyers establish what the court can reach directly and what depends on enforcement in the other jurisdiction. That distinction shapes the remedy a client should be asking for, and asking for the wrong remedy can cost a year. Our lawyers also coordinate with counsel in the other country where a local step is the faster route.
Section 107 identifies the proper law of a relationship as the law of the jurisdiction of the spouses' most recent common habitual residence, subject to the closest-connection test the section carries. Section 108 then sets which law governs the division. Our lawyers resolve this question first on a file spanning two countries, since the answer decides the substance of the claim.
A share or an interest in a private company is family property under section 84(2) of the Family Law Act. Our lawyers instruct qualified business valuators, and we test the valuation the other spouse advances. Entitlement to a share of the company is rarely the contested question. Valuation is what a business-owner divorce turns on, along with the income the company actually produces for the spouse who runs the company.
A beneficial interest held by a spouse falls within family property under section 84(1) of the Family Law Act. Our lawyers examine the trust deed, the distribution history and the degree of control a spouse retains. A discretionary interest and a vested interest are treated differently on division. Family trusts established for tax or estate reasons routinely turn into the hardest asset in a separation to value.
Meet the Family Law Advocates Behind Our Clients' Success
James Un is a Senior Associate Lawyer at ATAC LAW, drawn to the disputes that turn on property, contracts, and money: who owns what, who owed whom, and what the…
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Roy Donghee Kim is a trial lawyer at ATAC LAW and a professional engineer whose practice concentrates where technical judgment comes under legal scrutiny. He acts for engineers and engineering…
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Raymond Jin, an associate at ATAC LAW, conducts a practice concerned with families and their property, and the disposition of both when a relationship or a life ends. Separation, the…
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Linting Zhang is an associate lawyer at ATAC LAW who is often retained when a single event has produced several legal problems at once. A criminal charge that also unsettles…
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Siwei Xu is a civil litigator at ATAC LAW who acts in the disputes that arise when a commercial or personal relationship breaks down, between landlord and tenant, employer and…
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Siqi Wang is an associate lawyer at ATAC LAW whose practice is given to disputes in which the sum at issue, the asset, or the relationship between the parties admits…
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Shuni Zhang is an associate in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Team at ATAC LAW. Shuni maintains a broad civil and commercial litigation practice, with particular depth in construction,…
View Shuni's bioFrequently Asked Questions
Have another question? Our family law team is here to help.
Contact Our Team →Our family lawyers act on divorce files across British Columbia, for the spouse starting the proceeding and for the spouse answering one. The work covers uncontested applications, contested proceedings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia and separation agreements. Child support, spousal support and the division of family property, family debt and pensions all form part of the practice. Files involving a private company, a family trust or property held in another country are a regular feature. Parenting disputes and protection orders run through the wider ATAC LAW family law practice.
A good deal more than the divorce order. The Supreme Court of British Columbia can divide family property and family debt equally under section 81 of the Family Law Act. Section 95 allows an unequal division where an equal one would be significantly unfair. On support, the court can order the table amount set by the Federal Child Support Guidelines. Section 7 of those guidelines adds a share of special or extraordinary expenses. Spousal support follows sections 161 and 162 of the Family Law Act. Before any hearing, section 90 allows an order granting one spouse exclusive occupation of the family residence, and section 89 allows an interim distribution of property to fund the proceeding. A pension can be divided under Part 6 by designating the other spouse a limited member of the plan. Support terms filed with the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program can then be enforced against wages.
Section 8(2) of the Divorce Act requires proof that the marriage has broken down, established by one year of living separate and apart, by adultery or by cruelty. Almost every divorce proceeds on the first ground. Section 8(3) allows reconciliation attempts totalling no more than ninety days without restarting the year. A second requirement catches many applicants by surprise. Section 11(1)(b) obliges the court to satisfy itself that reasonable arrangements have been made for the support of any children of the marriage, and the divorce is stayed until those arrangements exist. Once judgment is granted, section 12(1) makes the divorce effective on the thirty-first day afterwards.
The agreement can be reopened. Section 93(3)(a) of the Family Law Act allows the Supreme Court to set aside all or part of a property agreement where a spouse failed to disclose significant property or debts, or other information relevant to the negotiation. The section also reaches an agreement signed where one spouse took improper advantage of the other spouse's vulnerability. Section 164 applies a comparable test to spousal support agreements. Section 93(4) then gives the court a discretion to decline to intervene where an order would not differ substantially from the agreement already reached, so non-disclosure alone does not guarantee a different result. The practical exposure is that an agreement treated as final for years can return as a live property claim, by which point the assets in issue have moved in value.
Not always. A divorce on consent, with no children and no property to divide, can be completed on the registry forms alone. Counsel earns the retainer on the parts that are difficult to correct afterwards. Characterizing an asset as excluded property under section 85 of the Family Law Act depends on a tracing record assembled before signing. A pension divided on the wrong method under Part 6 is awkward to unwind. Support agreed without verified income can be varied later, although the years already paid are not usually recovered.
Section 198(2) of the Family Law Act. A married spouse has two years from the judgment granting the divorce to start a claim. That window covers property division under Part 5, pension division under Part 6 and spousal support under Part 7. The same period runs from an order declaring the marriage a nullity. For a spouse who lived in a marriage-like relationship, the two years run from separation instead. Section 198(3) sets a separate two-year period for applying to set aside an agreement, counted from the date the spouse discovered, or reasonably ought to have discovered, the grounds for the application. Child support is not caught by these limits. A spouse who reaches a divorce order before the property has been settled should treat the property claim as running on a clock.
In the Vancouver market a separation is generally treated as high net worth where the spouses together hold more than $1,000,000 in liquid assets. The threshold is a practical one, and no provision of the Family Law Act turns on the figure. Property above the line is divided on the same principles as property below, under sections 81 and 95 of that Act. What changes is the evidence. A file of this size usually carries a business valuation, a pension valuation and a tracing exercise over excluded property under section 85. Disclosure under Rule 5-1 of the Supreme Court Family Rules reaches corporate records, not pay statements alone. Section 89 also matters more here, because an interim distribution of family property can fund the valuations the file needs. A high-net-worth separation is more often decided by a valuation than by a point of law.
Yes, in most cases. Section 3(1) of the Divorce Act gives a court in British Columbia jurisdiction once either spouse has been habitually resident in the province for the year immediately before the proceeding begins. The place of the marriage does not displace that jurisdiction, although the marriage must have been valid where celebrated. Property held abroad is a separate question. Sections 107 and 108 of the Family Law Act decide which jurisdiction's law governs the relationship, beginning with the law of the spouses' most recent common habitual residence. Section 109 then allows the Supreme Court to make orders about the ownership and division of extraprovincial property, although enforcing such an order may require steps in the other country. Where a divorce has already been granted abroad, section 22(1) of the Divorce Act recognizes that divorce in Canada if either former spouse was habitually resident in that country for the year before the foreign proceeding began.
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Divorce can involve difficult decisions about children, support, property, businesses, pensions and the future of the family home.
Our divorce lawyers are here to support and guide you through your challenging times of your life. Provide us more details about your case before our initial consultation to help you better.