When staying out of court, separating couples want and need to work together to prepare a separation agreement (as opposed to a court order imposed by a judge, if the couple were fighting in court).
There really are no reputable standard form separation agreement precedents. If families look for standard separation agreements from reputable sites (such as the Attorney General of Ontario, or Ontario law firms), they will discover the non-existence of such standard form separation agreements.
This is because each family is unique and each separation agreement is unique to each family. The law relating to families is specific to each province of Canada. So, for instance, the family law in Ontario is not the same as the family law in Alberta. The family law in Ontario is also not the same as the law in USA, England or Australia. The mass-produced standard form separation agreements that can be found online do not come from government sites. When Ontario families download mass-produced standard form separation agreements from online they almost always have no way of knowing where those documents came from. The bottom line is….mass-produced standard separation agreements that Ontario families print from online (often at a cost) may not be worth the paper they are printed on. Families who attempt to cut costs by printing mass-produced standard separation agreements often end up in court years later with a costly mess to fix the errors that they made themselves with the mass-produced standard separation agreements printed from online.
Therefore, there really is no escaping hiring a lawyer to draft a formal separation agreement. This makes sense since a separation agreement is a legal contract and is unique to each family and to the family law of each province.
SAVING TIME AND RESOURCES – IF YOUR FAMILY IS WILLING TO PUT SOME EFFORT IN YOURSELVES
There is, however, a way in which families can save time and money in preparing to work with lawyers who are drafting their separation agreement.
To sign a legally binding separation agreement there should be FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE between spouses. That is, spouses should disclose to one another their assets and debts at the date of separation (and at the date of the cohabitation/marriage).
While there are no reputable standard form separation agreements, there ARE standard form financial statements available. It IS possible to save time and resources preparing these financial statements for yourselves and taking them to your lawyers; ready and prepared to move forward with what you want in your separation agreement.
WHERE CAN I FIND A STANDARD FINANCIAL STATEMENT?
Financial Statements are commonly used in family court and are published online on reputable websites (such as the Attorney General of Ontario, or Ontario law firms). These standard form financial statements can be used efficiently and freely by families to provide financial disclosure, when choosing to stay out of court.
Even when both spouses know what they both want and agree from their separation (and hence they know what they want put into their separation agreement), they still need to show on paper that they both were aware of what assets and debts they had at the time of the separation (and the time of the commencement of the cohabitation/marriage). The standard form financial statements (Form 13 or Form 13.1 – these two forms differ depending on whether property and support is appropriate, or support alone is appropriate) are available from the Attorney General of Ontario website. Many spouses commonly prepare the Form 13.1 (property and support). A link to the Attorney General of Ontario website can be found at the Services Tab of the Family Law Pathways Centre Website (CLICK HERE).
HOW TO START PREPARING STANDARD FORM FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
It is important when you start to prepare the standard form Financial Statements that you and your spouse agree on the date of the separation. In Ontario a snap shot of the assets and debts is taken at the date of separation. If you and your spouse cannot agree on the date of the separation you should consult your individual lawyer to clarify and agree on the date. Information about Separation and Divorce can be found at the Attorney General of Ontario website.
Collecting the information needed to start preparing the Financial Statement may be done be spouses themselves. Each spouse prepares an individual standard form financial statement (including estimates of values of assets and debts, and attaching proof of those assets and debts). Proof of assets and debts can be as simple as attaching estimates, such as black book values” which can be found online (e.g., for cars and boats, etc) or may include valuations (e.g., for homes, cottages and pensions), as appropriate. Spouses who stay out of court often decide the type of proof or valuation together, will often choose joint valuations, and consider a cost-benefit analysis (i.e., what works for the spouses in their unique family context).
The reason for an individual financial statement for each spouse is that the assets and debts are a snap shot of the assets and debts in each spouses’ name at the date of separation (and date of cohabitation/marriage). Many spouses have some assets and debts that are joint, and also some assets and debts that are individual. The standard form financial statements are set up to collect this relevant information.
Once you have collected the information needed for the preparation of the draft financial statements it is helpful to take BOTH those individual statements to your individual lawyers (as appropriate) so that they can then calculate a fair equalization payment according to Ontario law (as appropriate).
SUMMARY
Standard form financial statements are a good starting point because a) the drafting of the financial statement can be commenced by spouses for free, and b) they enable you and your lawyers to compare apples with apples. This can SAVE a lot of confusion, arguments, time and money.
Even if spouses agree on the numbers (such as the values for assets and debts) and also on the equalization amount, it is still important that they both complete a financial statement since the financial statement provides the full and complete disclosure that is needed so spouses can both sign the legally binding separation agreement.