Making Family Law Advice Affordable for You

Not every individual is in a financial situation that permits them to spend thousands of dollars on legal fees, in order to obtain legal representation throughout their separation. However, did you know there are multiple different avenues to obtain the legal advice you need that works for you financially, no matter your budget?

In this article we break down options for those who may have no funds available for legal advice, to those who are simply just more cost sensitive.

For those who have no ability to pay to meet with or retain a lawyer, you can still get legal advice to ensure your rights are protected in the following ways:

1. Look into legal aid to determine whether or not you qualify for free legal representation. If you qualify, a legal aid lawyer will take on your case and represent you.
2. If you do not qualify for legal aid, but also cannot afford to meet with or retain a lawyer, you still have options open to you to obtain some legal assistance:

1. Connect Community Program: The Connect Community program is a unique service offered by Connect Family Law that provides an affordable and accessible alternative to traditional legal services in family law matters. It connects clients who qualify for the program with junior lawyers and paralegals who work under the supervision of senior legal professionals, allowing clients to receive quality legal support at a reduced cost for services such as drafting separation agreements, obtaining a desk order divorce and collaborative divorce services.
2. Duty Counsel: If you feel that you might be able to competently speak on your own behalf in court, but need some legal guidance on the law and procedural matters of the court system, attend to your local courthouse and ask to speak with duty counsel. They can provide you some brief high-level advice about your case, inform you as to what the necessary court forms are that you need to file in order to get what you need, and even provide you with some assistance in filling out those forms. Note that you can utilize duty counsel services even if you do not qualify for legal aid, but that duty counsel does not represent you nor take on your case the way that legal aid lawyers will.
3. Family Advice Lawyer: Family advice lawyers work at Family Justice Centers and can give you advice about all aspects of family law, including procedural matters. Note that you can potentially utilize family advice lawyers even if you do not qualify for legal aid, but that depending on your qualifications, you have finite time (usually one to three hours) provided to you of their services.
4. Family LawLINE: Family LawLINE is a telephone service that provides you brief “next-step” advice from family lawyers, and in certain circumstances, can provide you assistance with the preparation of court documents. Note that you can potentially qualify for legal advice from a Family LawLINE lawyer even if you do not qualify for legal aid.
5. Lawyer Referral Service: Through the lawyer referral service, you can get a free 15-minute consultation with a lawyer who can determine your legal needs and how you can serve them. The lawyer may charge you for any time over and above the 15 minutes, and you can choose to retain the lawyer after the call if you wish to.
6. Summary Advice Program:   The summary advice program offers free legal advice to low- and modest-income individuals, for up to a half hour, with the possibility of more appointments, as needed.
7. Virtual Family Mediation Program: The virtual family mediation program offers free online family mediation and advice services to low- and modest-income families across B.C. In order to utilize this service, at least one party must meet the pro bono eligibility criteria.
8. Family Justice Counsellors: Family justice counsellors provide free services to families (such as mediation) or individuals (such as providing information and options about family law and referrals to community services) who are going through a separation, on issues such as guardianship, parenting and support.

For those who have minimal or limited funds to meet with or retain a lawyer, keep the following in mind:

1. Consultations: All law firms (as long as they are taking on new clients) offer you the ability to meet with a lawyer for up to one hour, for an initial consultation. During this hour, you can provide the lawyer all necessary information to enable them to provide you with any and all legal information you need regarding your rights and obligations during a separation, and the legal process. Keep in mind that some law firms may offer free consultations, others offer fixed rate consultations (they charge the same amount for an hour regardless of the lawyer’s hourly rate, meaning you can get an hour of time from a very experienced lawyer at a highly discounted rate from their usual hourly rate) and some firms charge for the hour by the lawyers hourly rate, which means there is likely to be a range of cost options and hopefully one that will ultimately fit your budget.  
   • At Connect Family Law, we offer a fixed fee of $275 for an initial consultation. Even if you are unable to retain the lawyer after the meeting, having a consultation is still a great way to ensure that you at least have a fulsome understanding of what you might be entitled to, what you might be obligated to pay, what your various legal options are and whether any potential timeline limitations apply to your case that you should be aware of.
2. Lawyers Charge Different Hourly Rates: Lawyers bill for their time spent on your file, based on their hourly rate. The more senior and experienced the lawyer, the higher their hourly rate. This means however that there is going to be a range of hourly rates for family lawyers, and if you are someone with limited finances to spend on legal fees, inquiring into the availability of more junior lawyers, or articling students, could be a good option since they will charge you less per hour. If looking into the option of a more junior counsel, it is wise to ensure they are at a firm with other more experienced lawyers on their team that they can utilize for mentorship and guidance with your file.
3. Fixed Fee Retainers: Some firms offer certain legal services at a fixed fee. This means that rather than billing you for the time it takes them to complete the task, they charge you one flat fee to complete the task. This provides you with certainty that legal fees won’t grow past what you are financially comfortable with or able to pay. Note that most family lawyers only offer this type of retainer for limited types of tasks, such as the preparation of cohabitation or separation agreements, or doing uncontested divorce applications. This can however be a great way to ensure you get across the finish line with competent counsel, at a price you are able to pay.
4. Limited Retainers/ Legal Coaching:  If you have the ability to consult with a lawyer, but have limited funds to spend on further legal fees, it is important that this discussion is had up front with that lawyer to ensure they can maximize your legal assistance within those restraints, and advise you of what is or is not feasible within that budget. Often when I meet with a client who has limited funds for legal fees, I explain to them the options of limited retainers, or legal coaching, as one way to maximize my assistance within their budget.

• • Legal coaching, or limited retainers, is a type of retainer wherein the lawyer assists in the background, or for a limited task. In this way, the legal bills are substantially within your control and tend to be significantly less costly than retaining a lawyer to represent you.  For example, on a limited retainer file, a lawyer can be retained for the limited and sole purpose of representing you at a single court appearance. After that appearance concludes, the lawyer would no longer represent you, and you would carry on the rest of your matter on your own. In a legal coaching arrangement, the lawyer is retained and available to the client to assist in the background, whether needed for providing advice as you work through the separation or court process, drafting or editing legal documents, or helping to prepare court submissions for an upcoming court appearance. The main idea of legal coaching is that the lawyer works behind the scenes, typically not participating in discussions with the other lawyer or party or attending court on your behalf. However, if agreed upon in advance, the lawyer can become more involved in these aspects.
  • In both of these arrangements, it is important to have very clear communication and a retainer agreement with the lawyer that outlines what it is they are, or are not, responsible for helping you with.  Lastly, it is important to note that not all lawyers offer either of these services and it would be an important question to ask when making inquiries to the various law firms that offer these services, if that might be a route you are interested in.

We get it – lawyers are not cheap. However, we hope we have made clear that no matter your budget for legal advice, there are several avenues available to you to ensure that you get the legal information or assistance you need in order to protect or pursue your rights.