The title itself may give a clue about what this kind of lawyer does in their profession. A Family Lawyer will deal with anything related to Family Law—which includes divorce, custody, guardianship, adoption, and domestic violence.
But how can a family lawyer Calgary assist you, exactly? What will they do once you hire them and what are their responsibilities?
To understand this area of practice and get a general view of a family lawyer’s responsibilities as your legal representative, here is what you need to know first.
Who do they represent?
A Family Lawyer will provide you with legal representation in matters related to members of your family. They can represent a range of clients, from children to the elderly, but most of the time, the parents or couples.
They may take as a client the person who is filing for divorce just as much as the person trying to mend the marriage, or they can represent a grandparent in their seek for guardianship of a minor child.
The nature of clients that a family lawyer can work with varies with each case, and each of those will be different on their own. For this reason, having an experienced family lawyer who you can trust to assist you is essential. They will analyse your case and its particular details and give you custom advice on which paths to follow on your lawsuit, as well as guide you through it.
So What does Family Lawyer do?
They can work on a variety of fronts of a case, normally those cases require submitting documents, drafting defences or settlements and so on. An experienced lawyer in Calgary can help you go through all steps of the case in a timely manner and make responsible use of the resources available.
Within what a Family Lawyer usually does, there are even more variations. They can draft contracts such as a marriage contract or a cohabitation agreement, will assist you with litigation, get involved in alternative dispute resolutions, move appeals to the judge against a decision, guide you through child and spousal support, make sure custody and access rights are being taken care of when a case involves children during a divorce, help with property division and so much more.
When you hire a family lawyer, you are trusting them with your whole case, and that is why choosing an appropriate lawyer for you is so important. Sometimes there even may be urgent issues to be addressed and having a family lawyer with you will ensure that your rights are being protected and that all documentation and evidence are being submitted in the correct way and time frame, saving you and your family a lot of stress.
What are the roles of a Family Lawyer?
We talked about Family Lawyer responsibilities and what they do, but how do they do that?
Family Lawyers can represent their clients in Court and outside of it. That means they will defend their clients using the law in their favour, analyse evidence from the other party to see if they were acquired in an illegal way and also know which kind of professionals they can bring as witnesses to each case, such as psychologists.
They will also be the ones to represent their client in a negotiation to ensure their best interests are being protected and fought for.
Family lawyers can also exist to provide legal advice. Legal action can become really messy, there are tons of paperwork, deadlines and protocols to be followed. It is not your fault if you, as a non-trained professional in law, do not know all the nuances of the law and how they work. That is what a family lawyer is here for.
By using their experience and knowledge of the law, they can provide advice on how to move forward and which paths exist in front of you depending on each case. They will advise their clients on reaching an appropriate outcome by allowing them to make more informed choices.
As previously mentioned, they will also be the ones to keep track of documentation by submitting every document necessary in the appropriate way, on time, and drafted to the best of their capacities to explain to the judge your case. This information is confidential and a lawyer will keep it like that as the law dictates.
What is your relationship with a family lawyer?
You need to trust your lawyer, and your lawyer needs to show that you can trust them. Building this relationship is extremely important so you, as the client, feel comfortable around them to share important information on the case truthfully, as well as so they, the legal professionals, can do their job in the best way possible and draft the best possible defence for you.
This will create an environment where you will feel comfortable following their advice on how to proceed, and will allow the lawyer to better understand the case and assess it properly and individually, as every case can be completely different from the other and with different nuances to it as well.
Overall, your family lawyer will try their best to make a difficult situation much less stressful and reach an end quicker. They will look for ways to solve a dispute in a friendly manner to avoid confrontations if possible, and if not, they will defend you to the best capabilities.