AGSLAW Services Overview

Standard Track Consultation 

This consultation gives you the benefit of speaking with one of our experienced lawyers for up to one hour. It is typically suitable for people who have more than 2 issues to extensively discuss with a lawyer, documents to review and /or an ongoing case at Family Court or via out-of-court Negotiations. This is also a good starting point for someone choosing self-representation.

Cost: Call for rates.

Please see the following typical topics for Standard Track Consultation:

• You are considering separating from your spouse or common law partner and wish to know what your rights and obligations are under Family law, you wish to know 'where you stand'.
• You wish to understand what is the difference between going through Court and negotiating an out of court Separation Agreement. You also wish to discuss which may be best for your specific situation. 
• You have just been served with court papers and you are worried. You wish to know what the papers mean and wish to know what steps you should take now, which route is the best for you.
• Your spouse or common law partner has gone to see a lawyer and has given you a written settlement proposal. You are wondering how to respond, what should you agree and not agree with and what would be the short and long term legal consequences.
• You feel that your child is in danger and wondering if there is a way to secure an urgent court order for custody, what are the legalities involved with that and what is the process
• You are being denied access to your child. The police will not assist you because you do not have a court order for access with your child, and you need urgent legal help.
• You feel that your child will be in great danger if the other parent will take them for access. You are wondering how you can protect your child.
• The Family Responsibility Office (FRO) has sent you a letter stating that they will suspend your Drivers Licence if you do not pay up your support arrears. You need your licence to work and you are very worried.
• The Children's Aid Society has taken your child away and has began court proceedings against you. You need to understand what's going on, how to possibly get your child back and how to make sure you continue to see your child while the proceedings go on. 
• You are going through a volatile separation and your spouse is saying you will not get anything from the house because it's not in your name. They are also saying they will not pay you any support. You are extremely worried as to how you and your kids will survive financially. 
• You and your partner are not married. Your relationship is at an end. He or she is telling you that you do not deserve anything because 'nothing is in your name' from them financially even though you lived in the same house and maybe you even worked together in your partner's business. You are very concerned about your future financial well being and feel this is unfair.

Personalized Fee Structure

The personalized fee structure recognizes all people should have access to professional legal services, yet many have varying degrees of ability to afford legal services. Unlike the LSP (Legal Services Packages) option, this option is usually chosen by clients wishing to retain a lawyer throughout their case. Your personalized fee structure will be calculated when you have your initial consultation.

LSP: Legal Services Packages 

It is a fact that nearly all the litigants in Family Court today cannot afford legal advice, representation and assistance with document preparation. This is usually due to the disparity between household incomes and the cost of services offered by most law firms. We are confident that with our Initiatives, you will be able to gain the benefit of professional legal assistance experienced strictly in Family Law at an exceptionally reasonable and affordable cost.

Cost of a package: Call for rates.

How to choose a package: At your consultation, the lawyer will be able to advise you which package suits your needs and advise you of the cost. The package may be combines as needed.

The following are currently available LSP’s:

a. Application Package:
i. Suitable for those who wish to obtain for the first time a Court Order to deal with issues such as custody and/or access to children, child support, spousal support and division of property.
ii. Depending on the circumstances, this package typically includes an Application form, An Affidavit in Support of Custody and Access Claims form and a Financial Statement form.

b. Answer Package:
i. Suitable for those who need to Answer an Application that has been served upon he/she.
ii. Depending on the circumstances, this package typically includes an Answer form, An Affidavit in Support of Custody and Access Claims form and a Financial Statement form.

c. Motion to Change Package:
i. Suitable for those who wish for the court to make changes to an existing Final Court Order.
ii. Depending on the circumstances, this package typically includes a Motion to Change form, Change of Information form, an Affidavit in Support of Custody and Access Claims, an Affidavit form and a Financial Statement form.

d. Motion Package:
i. Suitable for those who wish to apply to the court for a Temporary Court Order on such issues such as custody and/or access to children, child support, spousal support and division of property.
ii. Depending on the circumstances, this package will normally include a Notice of Motion form, an Affidavit form and a Financial Statement form.
*** Please note that cost of this package will depend and vary according to the number of affidavits require and length of each.

e. Family Responsibility Office Package:
i. Suitable for those are facing Enforcement Proceedings by the FRO such as Proceedings to have their Driver’s License suspended.
ii. Depending on what is being sought by the FRO the package will include the required forms to answer the proceedings. It may be combined with the Motion to Change package should you need to change the existing support order for an additional cost.

f. Individual form preparation:
i. You may find yourself needing assistance with an individual form such as a Financial Statement, Reply, Conference Brief or an Affidavit or any of the other Family Court forms.

g. Court Conference Briefs:
i. Briefs are required form within the family law rules for whether you're attending a case conference settlement conference for trial management conference at court. The purpose of the brief is to summarize for the judge in the most effective way what the issues are in your case and what are the facts in your case. Without an effective brief a judge is not going to understand the nature of your issue in family court and is going to have a hard time helping you. Our experienced lawyers will ensure that a brief is drafted on your behalf such that you would get the most out of your day in court making it clear to the judge what your position is and briefing the judge about the case in general. Please note that if you do not serve a brief prior to court date you may not be heard in court and the court date may not go ahead which could open you up to an order of cost payable to the opposing side as it is extremely important that this document be done properly and on time.

h. Court Attendance Package:
i. You may choose to retain one of our experienced lawyers to represent you on a certain court date.
***Please note that the cost of this package will depend on the extent of the preparation that will be required by the lawyer for the court date as well as on whether you will require us to prepare any documents on your behalf for the court date.

i. Wills, Power of Attorney and Living Wills:

i. Call for rates on wills.

Additional Support Services

The following services are offered at AGSLAW as an addition to any of our services or individually. The cost of these services shall be provided to you at your consultation. as always, we offer these services to you at the most reasonable cost possible.

• Correspondence/s: AGSLAW can be retained to prepare correspondences on your behalf. for example, you received a letter from your former spouse, or their lawyer and wish for us to formulate the response on your behalf in a professional manner. Or you wish not to have any contact with the opposing side.
• Order interpretation: you need clarification on what an order/s mean (i.e. your rights and obligations under the order)
• Order drafting: you have a handwritten court agreement (Minutes of Settlement) and you wish for us to have the order drafted.
• Coaching: let us be your guide through the many processes of Family Law such as Court appearances, mediation, OCL and CAS meetings, phone calls to opposing parties among many others. We can meet with you and strategize a response or strategize a start to your proceedings to place you on the right foot. Come in for as many meetings as you find necessary for you to remain well informed while making tough choices. 
• Offers to settle: you feel that you have a good idea as to how to resolve your legal issue. let us help you prepare a comprehensive and effective Offer to Settle which will protect your present and future legal interests. 
• Legal research: let our legal professionals research an area of the law using the latest technology that relates to your situation to help you make the best choices in relation to the question/s at hand.
• Process serving: We can serve and file any document at any court in the Canada among other court services.

At commencement of your working relationship with AGSLAW, we will enter into a Retainer Agreement which sets out the terms and conditions for the work.

We also offer a limited scope retainer or unbundled legal services, an agreement that can provide a more affordable option with a lawyer or paralegal.

Further details of the terms and conditions are available on request.