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On July 6th and 7th, 2017, the BHM lawyers are attending the 11th Biennial Family Law Conference, put on by the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC in Vancouver.  This conference takes place every two years in order to assist family law lawyers in reviewing and discussing the significant legal changes, emerging trends, and contentious issues in the practice area. This year, BHM’s own Trudi Brown and Kay Melbye will be speaking as course presenters on a number of spousal support-related topics.

Trudi Brown and Samantha Rapoport worked together to write an accompanying article titled “SPOUSAL SUPPORT: You have considered the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines: what next?” The paper deals with nuanced areas of spousal support, including reviews, variation, reinstatements, lump sum payments and reapportionment. Below is an introduction to the article:

“Since the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (the “SSAGs”) were adopted by the Federal Government, some aspects of addressing a spousal support claim have become much more straightforward.  However, when you are negotiating support terms for your client, applying the SSAGs is rarely the beginning or the end of the analysis.

This paper is intended to provide a practical discussion of some of the considerations that arise in negotiating, reviewing, varying, terminating and potentially reinstating spousal support. We aim to provide a survey of both leading and current cases, as well as drafting tips throughout.”

The paper highlights developing areas of law concerning spousal support, summarizes recent case law on the subject, and provides guidance for lawyers drafting support agreements. As case law and practice standards in these areas continue to evolve, Trudi, Kay and Samantha aim to help family law lawyers avoid the common pitfalls that can turn into serious headaches when drafting spousal agreements.

Social media from the conference can be found under the hashtag #bcfamilylaw17.