Founded and led by Rebecca Alleyne, Family Lawyer and Accredited Family Mediator · 201-1842 Oak Bay Avenue, Victoria BC · (250) 595-0323
Every document you need to gather before mediation, grouped by what you own. Work through the sections that apply to you and ignore the rest. Most people need four or five of them.
Gathering your documents is the single biggest thing you can do to keep mediation short and keep the cost down. Every decision you make about support, property and debt rests on knowing what you both have and what it is worth. When that information is already assembled, the session is spent making decisions. When it is not, it is spent chasing paperwork, which is the most expensive way to spend it.
The law asks you to value assets as at the date of your mediation, or close to it, unless using that date would be unfair. So gather current values first, for everything.
If you think a current value is unfair in your situation, supplement it. Bring the value as at the date you think is the right one, and a document that verifies that value. Then we can talk it through and decide together which date to use.
Both of you have a legal duty to disclose your finances honestly and completely. An agreement built on incomplete or inaccurate disclosure can be set aside later, which is the most common reason separation agreements fail. Disclosing everything protects you as much as it protects your spouse.
Do not wait until you have everything. Gather what you can and bring a list of what is still outstanding. We can usually work around a missing document, and knowing what is missing is itself useful.
A statement a few weeks old is usually fine. Use the most recent one you can produce and note the date it covers.
Both of you work from this same list. Disclosure runs both ways, and mediation goes faster when you arrive equally prepared.
If you are unsure whether something counts, bring it. It is far easier to set aside a document we do not need than to pause mediation to find one we do.
Financial accounts are easy, because the statement is the value. Most other assets need some outside verification. If the two of you agree on a value, you can use it without going further. Where you do not agree, or you are not sure, this is how each type of asset is usually valued. In every case the value is as at today, unless you both agree another date is fairer.
Online Canadian valuation tools are the easiest place to start. You will usually see two numbers. Wholesale is roughly what a dealership would pay you, and is lower than a private sale. Retail is roughly what a dealership would sell it for, and is higher than a private sale.
A figure somewhere between the two is usually close to what you would actually get selling privately.
A residential appraiser gives a professional, unbiased assessment of fair market value. That is the right approach when one of you is buying the other out.
If you are selling, you do not need an appraisal. Work out the listing price with a realtor instead.
A business valuator can tell you what the business is worth, which matters if one of you is buying the other out. Your accountant or corporate lawyer can advise on what your particular business needs.
Where one spouse controls how much income they draw from a company, a determination of guideline income can also help establish what is actually available for support.
Your annual statement tells you what you will receive monthly in retirement. It does not tell you what the pension is worth as an asset today.
You only need a valuation if you want to keep the pension and buy out your spouse's share, or balance it against other assets. If you are simply dividing it, no valuation is needed.
No valuation needed. The statement is the value.
Book a free 30-minute consultation and leave with a recommended path and a clear picture of what it will cost. No cost, no commitment.
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