January at the Family Law Information Centre

By Meagan Bensadoun

Working at the FLIC for many years, you start seeing & understanding trends. One trend that has remained consistent over the last 7 years working in this industry, is that January is the busiest month for new clients. More specifically, the first Monday of every new year. This has gotten me thinking – what are the reasons this happens? Below you will find some examples of why I believe January is the busiest time in the family law world.

1.New Years Resolutions – More happiness and positivity. Perhaps upon reflection of the previous year, parties may come to realize that the person they are with, is causing too much stress or unhappiness in their lives. It may be time of for a change. Or perhaps parties have been living separately for some time, but do not have a detailed agreement that creates stability and consistency in their lives. Mediation provides an amicable way to part ways, and reach a detailed agreement on whatever outstanding issues may be involved with separating parties.

2.One Last Holiday Season Together – When children are involved, parents may want to have one last holiday season together before letting the children know about the separation. This is certainly not to say that future holidays will not be happy & enjoyable, they may just look different – and different is not bad!

3.Too Much Time Together – During the holiday season, people are off work, there lots of events together. This can sometimes be a time for everyone to come together, and strengthen family bonds. However, this extended time together with your partner could have further solidified the need for a separation.

4.Financial Worries – January, the time where all the holiday bills come in. Not only does the thought of how these bills will be paid off create stress, but how and where the money was spent can cause devastating arguments. Parties may have different priorities when it comes to the money being brought into the household. One of the leading factors to separation and divorce, is when spouses cannot efficiently communicate about finances.  If parties chose mediation following separation, they will have an opportunity to work with one of our mediators with extensive experience in division of assets, equalization & any other financial pieces to the separation, providing an opportunity to negotiate these pieces outside of family court.

Mediation is a voluntary alternative dispute resolution process which can help parties to reach an agreement both are satisfied with. Working with a neutral third party during separation allows for open communication, creativity and is generally much less expensive than going to court, much quicker than going to court and can provide parties with an agreement that they can all depend on.