What Does Winning A Family Case Mean?

Finally, we won.  It’s over.  Everything is sorted out: property division, spousal support, pensions, child support, parenting time – everything.  Right?

Well, not exactly.

Property division requires some documents to be filed: Land Title Office registrations, mortgage and bank changes, etc.  Pension division needs some forms – simple ones – to be sent to the pension company.  Spousal support should start being paid (if it’s ordered).  Child support should start being paid.  “Special expenses” (like childcare, school fees, medical, etc.) usually need to be verified with receipts, then split according to the court order.  The person receiving support may want to register with Family Maintenance Enforcement.

Parenting time likely needs a calendar to be marked up: Dad’s time and Mom’s time.  Once that’s done, you may want to negotiate for some “special” dates: school events, etc.  Maybe trips with the kids.  No matter what the order says, life often has different plans…

The winner in the lawsuit may have been awarded court costs.  Not always.  Some judges believe that there’s no “winner” in a family lawsuit.  If you did get court costs, these are relatively simple to calculate.  The lawyers usually sort that out fairly quickly.

Moving forward, you need to recalculate support every year.  The parents/spouses need to exchange income tax returns.  Then adjust support if needed, based on the income numbers.  Maybe adjust the share each pays for the kids’ “special expenses”. 

Once in a while the parents may need to adjust the parenting time.  What worked when your son was 4, might not once he’s in school.  What worked when your daughter was 9 might not when she’s in junior high – and in half a dozen after school activities.  And anyone with a teenager knows how pointless it is to tell them who they should spend time with. 

No family order is ever “final” until the youngest child has graduated from university. 

The changes needed due to time passing, incomes changing, kids growing up – each can cause another battle between the parties.  Or, they can take the judgment and use it as the basis for reaching agreements.  Maybe every year or so they need a couple hours of a lawyer’s time to sort that out.  Or, maybe every change in life causes one side to create a giant battle all over again.  It depends whether they have learned to act like adults. Or not.

In family law, winning is rarely “everything”.  And it’s rarely a “final victory”. 

At Clear Legal, we have been helping clients turn trial decisions into successful life plans since 1990.