Fees and Unbundled Services

At M. G. Michaels & Associates, we know that not everyone can afford the services of a lawyer for all of their legal needs, but we can still help by providing essential services rather than full representation. Even limited legal representation is better than none, and Judges in Family Court agree.

If you cannot afford to retain our firm to represent you in your dispute, here are other types of legal services that still enable us to help you.

Our fees are based on years of experience and skills acquired over that period. And, while our junior lawyers and law clerks may not have the level of experience that Marie G. Michaels has, they receive mentoring from Marie and she is often available to consult with them about strategies to pursue to best meet each client’s needs.

We offer Flat Fees for Real Estate work, Wills & Powers of Attorney, as well as for Uncontested Divorces. Feel free to reach out to our office for more information.

Joint Consultations

When you and your spouse are ready to deal with the paperwork regarding your separation, we offer a paid 2-hour consultation for you and your spouse, together. This type of joint consultation will cover the law, as it relates to your specific issues, the different options you have for resolution, and the various related procedures.

For example, if you have property and are amicable, but do not know how to divide your property, or what the law considers property for division purposes (pension, CPP, AirMiles and AeroPlan, time-share, et cetera), we will be happy to go through your list of property questions with you, and explain how you actually divide your property.

Or, if you were common law and heard that you do not need to divide property, but you know another common law couple that did divide their property so are confused about whether you are the type of couple who should or does not need to, we can guide you through those issues as well.

Joint consultations can save you having to go to Court and have a Judge explain this to you, leaving you able to settle your issues by preparing and signing a Separation Agreement. Joint consultations will also save you the expense of each hiring a lawyer to negotiate the terms of your Separation Agreement.

You would both still have to see another lawyer to obtain independent legal advice regarding the terms of the Agreement, but this still results in a cost savings to you both.

Of course, we still offer single consultations to individuals who want legal advice specific to their issues, rather than the issues that might also exist for their spouse.

Court Document Preparation

We can assist with preparation of your Court documents. It is very important that all Court documents are prepared properly, so we review those with you to ensure that they are completely and accurately filled out. Improperly filled out Court documents cause delays. These would include your Application or Answer, your Affidavit for Custody/Access, the different Briefs you will need to create during the Court process and, most importantly, your Financial Statement. It may also include a Notice of Motion, or Contempt Motion and supporting Affidavit, or a Request for Information, or Request to Admit, or even an Affidavit of Documents or a Trial Record.

Court Coaching

If you’ve never been to Court before, we offer Court Coaching. Court can be daunting and the lawyers at M. G. Michaels & Associates can help prepare you.

Court Coaching includes: how to dress, the proper way to address various court officials and the role each of them play, what to expect, making arguments appropriately, responding to arguments from the opposing party or lawyer, what each of the different Court events are and what to expect from each of them, and how you can prepare for each of them.

The goal of Court Coaching is to get you prepared for the experience and the process, to get the best outcome in your situation.

Verbal Agreement or Mediation Memorandum of Understanding Conversion to Separation Agreement, or Court Order on Consent

If you have a verbal agreement in place, or an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreed on through mediation, we assist in transforming that into a Separation Agreement or an enforceable Court Order. This could be on any issue(s) such as parenting, support, section 7 expenses or property. More importantly, this could be done if you are adjusting support or section 7 expenses and simply need an Amending Agreement or Consent Court Order.

Representation at Court for a Specific Event, such as a Motion or Conference

One of our lawyers can attend Court with you to represent you (even if we aren’t acting as your full-time lawyer) on those occasions that you feel you should have a lawyer present for assistance.

Not sure how we can help, but know that you need help? Give us a call or email us and we can discuss your situation and figure out if there is another way in which we may be able to help.