Whether you’re in Florenceville-Bristol, Centreville, Hartland, Woodstock, Canturbury or surrounding areas, we’re ready to answer your questions about divorce, grandparent’s rights, adoption, or other family law concerns.
What I Can Help You With?
Family Law
Family law is always moving. Your life does not stop to wait until your family law dispute is resolved. You need a lawyer who cares about finding affordable and effective solutions to your problems and who will be present and accessible when you need him. You need the right combination of strength and tact to keep things moving in the right direction. I have a range of experience dealing with all kinds of family law files and strive to earn the trust of each of my clients whether I am dealing with a low or high-conflict matter.
Real Estate
Every house is unique and every real estate transaction is unique. Your real estate lawyer should be accessible and aware of the progress of your file from start to finish. Whether you are buying a New Brunswick property from within or out of the province, we are ready to help with a stress-free procedure. Because of our home-office format, we are able to offer personalized service that most firms do not, like after-hours signing to accommodate your work schedule.
Civil Litigation
I have a wide range of experience litigating matters including wrongful termination, professional discipline, defamation, insurance litigation, construction disputes, unpaid debts, breach of contract and negligence. Our law office strives to provide the best value to clients by providing access to technological tools typically found in large firms, with the lower cost and personalized client relationship of a small firm. A lawsuit can be very stressful. Dealing with your lawyer should not be.
Wills and Estates
Whether seeking advice for making or amending your will, obtaining letters probate or administration, or just seeking advice with regard to estate planning or carrying out the intentions of a deceased love one, we are there to help.
Constitutional Law
Standing up for the rights and freedoms of Canadians is something especially close to my heart and I have a wide range of experience representing individuals and organizations at all levels of court in Canada, including involvement in four constitutional cases at the Supreme Court of Canada and a personal appearance at our top court on two occasions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your rights and interactions with law enforcement...
Some videos appear to show excessive force from the police. This is usually the aspect of the videos that gets the most commentary and attention. As a law firm concerned about the safety, well-being, and rights of our clients, we would caution against modeling your interactions with the police on some of these videos.
Generally speaking, the time to complain about your rights being infringed comes later. Let your lawyer interrogate the officers about their actions from the safety of a courtroom or complaint proceeding. Make your objections in a timely way, but for your own safety, do all you can to comply even if the demands are in your opinion unreasonable or unlawful. Exercise your right to keep silent, object to any searching of yourself or your property without a warrant, and ask to speak with a lawyer. Arguing will not help the situation. You can actually harm your case against the police by arguing and refusing to comply.
Custody and Access...
For decades, Canadians have been using the terms “custody and access” to describe various legal parenting arrangements.
The new Family Law Act, following recent changes to the Divorce Act, has jettisoned these terms in favour of “parenting orders”. Going forward, court orders and parenting agreements will use the concepts of parenting time and decision-making responsibility.
Decision-making responsibility will fall under two categories: day-to-day decision-making, which will generally fall on the parent who has parenting time, and non-day-to-day, or important decisions, which will be either shared or as set out by the court or parenting agreement.
It is also important to note that none of these legislative changes have the effect of modifying existing court orders or parenting agreements.
Best interest of the child...
One of the first things you will read in the New Brunswick Family Law Act, which came into force 1 March 2021, is the definition for “best interest of the child”. This definition directs the reader to section 50, which lists a series of best interest factors that are basically identical to those in the new Divorce Act.
Parents are measured against each other by the court to decide which one will do a better job meeting the child’s best interest factors. If the court finds that they are both equally capable of meeting the child’s best interests, it may order equal shared parenting. This is far from an exact science and as much as possible parties should work together to agree on what is in their children’s best interest, instead of asking the court to do it for them.
At our office, we try to work with clients to encourage collaboration where possible and offer coaching on how to communicate productively with the other party.
It is important after separation to remain an active part of your child’s life. Research shows that children are often insecure about their relationship with their non-residential parent after separation and they cope best with separation if they can see both parents at least as often as they were accustomed to before separation.
If you are being denied the access you believe your child should be having with you, you should act sooner rather than later. The courts generally expedite motions where one parent is withholding a child from the other.