Family Law

Collaborative Family Law: Barb is a collaborative family law lawyer. Although having practiced traditional family law since 1993, Barb decided in 2014 that she no longer wanted to represent spouses/families in court because she truly believes there is a better way of helping separating/divorcing couples; and that path is found in collaborative family law.

Click here to learn more about why Barb chose to dedicate her practice to collaborative family law and to learn more about what is involved.

You can also click on our link to Collaborative Family Law to read more about this interest-based approach to family law.

Mediation: When spouses choose to separate there are usually three main areas to help couples sort through:

parenting of their children
dividing assets and debts
ensuring sufficient financial support is in place for both spouses

Barb offers mediation services where she meets with both spouses to help them reach agreement on all necessary issues and then prepares the separation agreement. Although Barb does not go to court that does not mean she cannot offer unbundled services. This means if, for example, your spouse and you have reached an agreement on all issues necessary for a separation, she can draft the agreement and charge for that only. Or a client may just want to meet once for advice and then carry on with “kitchen table negotiations” with their spouse – that too is an option.

Barb still takes on files where sometimes spouses want to take the traditional route of corresponding through legal counsel with each spouse having their own lawyer. The goal here is always, through correspondence, to reach agreement. In addition, under certain circumstances court is absolutely necessary when one spouse is just not willing to speak, negotiate, or compromise. While Barb does not go to court she can draw from her 20+ years of experience in dealing with lawyers to put you in the best hands possible.

She also does:

cohabitation agreements
marriage contracts
stepparent adoptions