Law

Debbie Elicksen is the author of our new book Business Cyberbullies and How to Fight Back. Her inspiration to write the book came from a personal experience she had with a former client turned cyberbully which she talks about below. Our hope is that through telling her story, she gives those of you dealing with online harassment the courage to fight back. For everyone else, let hers be a lesson to be proactive and learn about the simple steps you can take to protect your reputation online....

As people live longer, healthier, more active lives these days, it is not at all unusual to see marriages between individuals in their 60s, 70s and beyond. If you are among these happy folks, it is important that you turn your mind to estate planning. Booking the honeymoon in the Bahamas or working on the guest list is a lot more fun than thinking about your eventual demise, but there are plenty of people in your life who are depending on you to get this right, legally and financially...

UPDATED 2014

A little update on the story that went live in local papers recently came with the announcement of the most recent of tragic and too-soon passings. Revealed last month was the will of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who shocked the world with his sudden death in February.

In it, he left his fortune to his ex-partner and mother of all three of his children along with explicit instructions on the caretaking of his eldest son.  Though detailed, even down to the cities he’d like his son raised in, he made no mention of his two younger children. 

While is can be surmised simply that M...

After a divorce or during a separation in Canada, parties may wonder whether changes to agreements are possible, and if so, how to go about them.

According to David Greig, author of The Separation Guide: Know Your Options, Take Control, and Get Your Life Back, this question comes up surprisingly frequently in divorce and separation cases because circumstances change: Kids grow up; parents get raises, lose jobs, or acquire assets; new spouses become part of the picture; or perhaps one person wishes to move away and this will affect child custody arrangements...

Unless they’re rich and famous, and people are telling them to protect their cash and assets, the majority of people who are married or living common-law don’t have prenuptial agreements (“prenups”), cohabitation agreements, or marriage agreements in place. But with so many marriages ending in divorce, and so many relationships ending, period, is it smart to have some kind of contract?

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If you haven’t heard of divorce parties yet, you likely will soon as the trend of celebrating a breakup grows. Divorce or breakup parties are a way to mark moving on, toast a new chapter in life, and say goodbye to the past in a positive way.

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We have just learned that Canada Post no longer allows free change of address services for the administrator of a will. So if you are administering the will of someone, you will now need to pay the commercial rate to redirect the deceased person's mail. This is an expense the administrator can charge back to the estate...

March 18, 2013: Changes to the Provincial Court (Family) Rules come into effect today, to bring it into conformity with the Family Law Act, which replaces the previous Family Relations Act today. There are also some changes to Rule 21 (Parenting After Separation Program).

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Living together without marrying in British Columbia is going to become a lot more complicated on March 18, 2013. The BC Government will put into effect a new version of the Family Law Act on that day, changing what living together has meant in law for the past 35 years.

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