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With divorce settlement often taking years to reach, the average legal cost of a contested separation agreement can be upwards of $20,000 per person. At Dignified Divorce Vancouver, we get you 90% of the way through the divorce procedure in a far more affordable, timely manner. It is accomplished through a Separation Plan, a document that you and your mediator create which describes the resolution of all issues.

Dignified charges $300 per hour, shared equally between the spouses. A typical mediation takes 10-20 hours so you can expect to pay $3,000 to $5,000 for your mediation, being $1,500 to $2,500 each.

We commit to having your separation plan in your hands within 90 days of full financial disclosure. At that point, the separation plan gets handed off to the lawyers for conversion into a legal separation agreement, the cost of which is tremendously reduced because all issue have already been settled. For some, legal fees at this point are less than $1,500.

You save much time and costs on the settlement process because our service is based on a common-interest approach rather than the traditional, adversarial approach. Rather than bring in competing lawyers at the outset, we work on behalf of both spouses to negotiate and reach an easily understood, but detailed separation plan.

To this end, we apply our specialized training in finance, family law, and family mediation to conduct meetings with the separating couple. These meetings may be joint and/or one-on-one depending on what everyone's comfortable with. And of course, until the virus crisis fully ends, all meetings will not be in-person but instead we will use the telephone, Skype, FaceTime, Zoom and any other online platform according to your comfort.

Family mediation is emerging as a compassionate, compelling alternative to the old-fashioned adversarial approach to separation or divorce, thanks in part to the passing of the B.C. Family Law Act of 2013 which elevated the importance of mediation in family law. An aspect of the FLA is the Notice to Mediate [B.C. Reg. 296/2007] for which Dignified Divorce is a Roster Member, ready to help you if you or your spouse chose this route.

Financial 
Certified divorce financial analyst and mediator Paul Sweatman (M.Sc., C.F.A., C.D.F.A.) helps clients resolve every divorce and separation related financial issue:
Gathering of all relevant financial information: Called Full Financial Disclosure, this is a critically important first step towards a good Separation Plan.

Division of matrimonial property: With full financial disclosure, a family net worth statement is created, jointly reviewed and then used for Division. There are important considerations that Paul will help with in this aspect of the process – especially your decision on Date of Separation and Valuation Date, and who will keep what asset and what debt.

Tracking of payments made after separation: This is an important but often poorly addressed issue. It can have significant effect on final Division and the Equalization Payment.

Support payments: With the best software available, clients get an impartial schedule of support payments.

Child support is largely dictated by the Federal Child Support Tables, with little in way of discussion or negotiation. However, even here, we can help resolve a method for future adjustments as circumstances change.

Spousal support: While much less rigid than child support calculations, spousal payments generally follow a government schedule called the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines created by the Federal Government. There are nuances attached to resolution of spousal support and clients will be made aware of these and all other issues.

Parenting:
A balanced, sensitive, and informed approach to helping clients resolve divorce-related parenting issues:

Sharing of the children and seasonal adjustments
Negotiating plans for child-sharing during holiday, summer, and travel
Child transfers between households
How to talk, and listen, to your kids about your separation
How to deal cooperatively but assertively with your former partner or spouse
How to avoid parental alienation
How to keep your problems yours and 'let kids be kids'
How and where to get help, when and where needed, for your own emotional and psychological support