| Issue 60 - October 2008 | www.divorcemate.com | sales@divorcemate.com | (416) 718-3461 |
For almost 20 years, our DIVORCEmate News & Views newsletter has been an important source of information for our 7,000+ software users - product news, productivity hints, seminar schedules, updates and new product announcements, Judicial quotes, Family Law and technology information, humour and more. Please ensure that this e-mail is circulated to all family law professionals including: lawyers, judges, mediators, professors, accountants, law clerks, support staff and students. We will no longer mail a printed blue newsletter. Click here if you no longer wish to receive this newsletter.
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Marriage Contract Coming Nov 2008 Fall Training Sessions Announced
After two long years of research and organization, we are pleased to announce the pending availability of our newest member of the Precedents One family - the "Marriage Contract". The "Marriage Contract" works just like our popular Precedents One "Separation Agreement". You simply review our convenient clause list and select the sections based on the needs of your client (most clauses are annotated in order to help you decide if they apply to your client's situation). Click "Create", and Precedents One combines these selected clauses, with your Client File information (dates, names, birthdates, etc.) using your own word processing software. The result is a comprehensive draft of the marriage contract ready for easy customization and legal review! The Precedents One "Marriage Contract" was created by our own S. Christine Montgomery, B.A., LL.B. who has earned a reputation among her peers as a brilliant drafter and legal writer. |
In this issue
Marriage Contract Coming November 2008 Fall Training Schedule Underway James MacDonald, Family Lawyer, Author and Visionary National Family Law Conference, July 2008 DIVORCEmate's Charitable Endeavours Are Your Computer Systems Safe and Secure? It's Not So Difficult! BC Legal Services Society Technology Support Grant & DIVORCEmate Software Discount Pay-Per-Use Annual Minimums Reminder What The Judiciary Has Been Recently Saying About DIVORCEmate... |
For this project, Christine started with a number of individual marriage contracts provided by our clientele and CLE. She then spent many months reading articles and case law, attending CLE seminars, editing, drafting and re-drafting clauses and explanations, organizing and re-organizing content and researching the latest changes and trends in Ontario marriage contract law in order to put together this "Marriage Contract" precedent. The final product is a well-drafted software precedent that includes the most common clauses required for the vast majority of today's marriage contracts.
Our DIVORCEmate One "Marriage Contract" precedent will help any family law professional tackle the difficult and often time-constrained task of creating these custom one-off marriage agreements.
Availability:
We expect to release the Precedents One "Marriage Contract" by Friday, November 28th 2008.
Introductory Pricing:
If you are on our Pay-Per-Use plan (Ontario only):
Once the software is released and you update your DIVORCEmate One software (or it updates automatically), you will have access to the Marriage Contract as part of each activated Client File. There is no additional cost... the Marriage Contract is free to all Pay-Per-Use customers.
If you are a current Annual Subscriber (Ontario only):
And you already have our Precedents One "Separation Agreement" software:
The Precedents One "Marriage Contract" software will be offered at a Special Introductory price of $199.00 for first licensed computer and $39.80 for each additional licensed computer.
And you do NOT have our Precedents One "Separation Agreement" software:
The Precedents One "Marriage Contract" software will be offered at a Special Introductory price of $349.00 for first licensed computer and $69.80 for each additional licensed computer.
Special Combo Pricing: The Precedents One "Marriage Contract" and "Separation Agreement" software will be offered at a special price of $549.00 for first licensed computer and $109.80 for each additional licensed computer.
IMPORTANT: We will send all Annual Subscribers an email with an order form just prior to releasing our "Marriage Contract" precedent. You may place your order by replying to this future email or visit http://www.divorcemate.com/precedents_mc.asp.
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Fall Training Schedule Underway |
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We have announced our Canadian 2008 Fall Training Schedule. Please sign up at http://www.divorcemate.com/buy_training.aspx. We will be adding more locations and dates in the near future.
If your firm would like us to come to your city, please contact us and we will make our best efforts to hold a Tools One and/or Forms One training session in your city or region.
Please note that we also do custom, on-site training on a request basis (3 hour minimum). Our fees are $250/hour plus travel time and expenses as applicable. Please contact Michael Perlman at mperlman@divorcemate.com if you would like this service.
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DIVORCEmate Wants You... |
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We are urgently looking for family law professional(s) who are interested in amending our new "Marriage Contract" (and "Separation Agreement") for their individual province. This would be a contract position and would involve changing/adding/deleting about 20% of our marriage contract's clauses and annotations. Our first priority is British Columbia, however we welcome all who are interested. Please contact Mark directly at markharris@divorcemate.com.
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DIVORCEmate Office Closure |
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Our offices will be closed Thursday, November 13th and Friday, November 14th. We will all be attending an offsite strategy and learning session. Unfortunately, we will be unavailable by telephone during these two days. Emergency emails may be sent to mperlman@divorcemate.com or sknowles@divorcemate.com. Our offices will re-open Monday, November 17th.
James MacDonald, Family Lawyer, Author and Visionary
I would like to extend congratulations to a long-time DIVORCEmate customer, Mr. James MacDonald of MacDonald & Partners, Toronto, Ontario as he is retiring after more than 50 years in the business of family law.
In the early 90's "Jim", already a legend in Canadian family law folklore, was starting his own family law firm.
One of his first telephone calls was to a fledgling software company, DIVORCEmate Software. I can still remember that telephone call and the subsequent lunch meeting with Jim... he wanted the fastest computer system coupled with the best family law software. I was thrilled; the family law icon "James MacDonald" wanted our software! As I look back, I think that Jim's request for our software may have been our "tipping point".
Jim is also a past recipient of the "Family Lawyer of the Year" award and was instrumental in bringing Collaborative Family Law to Canada.
I wish Jim and his family a relaxed and busy retirement, filled with health, happiness and love. And I want to personally thank Jim for calling that March 2nd 1992 meeting and for his support and confidence over these past many years!
National Family Law Conference, July 2008
If you were not there, you missed one of the best Family Law Conferences of the year: We had loads of fun; we made many new friends; we ate, drank and were merry with numerous old friends; we also listened, learned and studied together.
The conference was held at Deerhurst Resort in the midst of Ontario's rugged cottage country. Hiking, golfing, swimming, boating, the beach, excellent food and wine... all within easy reach and all first class!
Our DIVORCEmate booth was the centre of attention as we showed our new SUMmate Quantum v. Duration Analyzer which enables family lawyers to use all sophisticated options when creating the best and fairest solutions under the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines ("SSAG"). SUMmate not only calculates "lump sum" solutions, it is the only software product that also calculates "quantum for duration" and "duration for quantum" scenarios considering the cost of money over time, and the income tax consequences to each party.
Of course, our giveaways were once again the hit of the conference - each family lawyer who visited our booth was rewarded with a gift bag which contained a bottle of delicious virgin olive oil to enjoy on salads or with crusty Italian bread. We even had several bottles open at the booth for our guests to try... mmmm, very tasty! If you think family lawyers are shy, just offer something tasty for free and see them dive in! Wow!
Here is what you also missed:
- Stacie Glazman (Toronto) hosted an excellent party at her nearby cottage to thank "old-timer" Ron Foster (Calgary) for his friendship and generosity over the years.
- Phil Epstein's smiling face and devilish laugh when he holed out from the fairway for a birdie on one of the Deerhurst's Highlands treacherous par 4s. Yes, I can personally attest to this birdie... it was a shocker!
- Grant Gold in his lycra leotards after a vigorous morning run.
- Me... Mark Harris, trying to walk out of the bar late one night after buying a few drinks for the youth of the Alberta and Ontario Family Bars... I actually thought I could keep up with them!
The ultimate highlight of the conference had to be the unveiling of the final Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines July 2008 Paper by Professors Rollie Thompson and Carol Rogerson. This final paper is quickly becoming a valuable "tool" across the country when developing consistent and fair spousal support solutions. It is sophisticated and requires study and understanding in order to fully take advantage of what the final SSAG paper has to offer. I encourage you to read this final paper and these other papers on our website at:
http://www.divorcemate.com/library.aspx
In order to help circulate the papers presented at the Conference to the family law profession, here is a selection of these excellent and educational papers: www.divorcemate.com/library.aspx
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DIVORCEmate's Charitable Endeavours |
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This summer, DIVORCEmate Software was once again a major contributor to Gilda's Club "Summer in the City" camp for children affected by cancer. As well, we were a major sponsor of the Gilda's Club Annual Cutler Classic Golf Tournament. www.gildasclubtoronto.org
We also support other charities including a small and worthwhile charity called, The People Bridge Charitable Foundation which funds small, yet essential projects around the world. This year we purchased a number of table tennis tables for an after-hours high school club in the Jane-Finch area of Toronto. www.peoplebridgecharity.ca
Just a Bit of Humour
Best line of the market crash..... Told to me by a twice married girl friend:
"This is worse than my 1st divorce....I've lost half my net worth and still have a husband."
Here's a healthy investment strategy......Retirement Planning:
If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock, it would now be worth $49.00.
With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1000.00.
With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.
If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left.
But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer/wine one year ago, drank all the beer/wine, then turned in the cans/bottles for the recycling refund, you would have had $214.00.
Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.
Are Your Computer Systems Safe and Secure? It's Not So Difficult!
By Steve Browning
Information security isn't just an issue for big business, all law firms face electronic security risks. By following the steps below you can reduce your firm's risk for little to no money.
- Always make sure that someone is applying system patches to all servers on a regular basis. This is so important. Every month Microsoft releases software patches to address critical security vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are quickly exploited by attackers and therefore getting systems patched quickly is key to any protection strategy.
- Make sure that all systems are running anti-virus software, more importantly; make sure that this software is up to date. Thousands of viruses are created everyday so the value of anti-virus software diminishes very quickly if it is not updated regularly.
- Any client data, in particular personal and financial data (credit card information), should be identified and protected. Perhaps have your staff examine encryption technology for this information.
- Lock up your backup tapes. If you leave your backup tapes lying around and you suffer a break in, you may lose your backups. Thieves are becoming far more aware of the value of customer information. Reporting this theft to your clients may cause serious damage to your firm's reputation.
- Surfing the web these days is very dangerous. Most attacks against computers originate from compromised or malicious websites while the victim is browsing the net. Just caution your staff to be very mindful when online and not simply click "OK" to every security message which pops up. Think before you click. Also, like servers, it's important to patch internal systems and make sure that they are running up to date anti-virus software.
- If you're don't require wireless networking connectivity, shut it down. It can be very difficult to lock down a wireless network completely. Most of the encryption used to protect these networks can be cracked using widely available tools.
By following the advice above you can decrease your vulnerabilities dramatically. Just keep in mind that security is an ongoing process.
Steven Browning is a security and risk management professional. He can be reached via email at sbrowning@sympatico.ca.
BC Legal Services Society Technology Support Grant & DIVORCEmate Software Discount For BC lawyers who received the Legal Services Society "Technology Support Grant"...
As a special promotion, DIVORCEmate Software Inc. is offering a time-limited 20% discount off of the list prices on NEW purchases of its annual subscription products to legal aid lawyers who received the LSS Technology Support Grant. This offer is effective from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009 with proof of grant receipt.
Existing DIVORCEmate Annual Subscription clients may apply this LSS technology support grant to past technology support expenses, provided these expenses were incurred on or after April 1, 2007.
Please direct your B.C. and Western Canadian DIVORCEmate software inquiries or orders to:
Steve Krieger, B.A., LL.B.
Tel: (604) 222-3582
skrieger@divorcemate.com
Pay-Per-Use Annual Minimums Reminder
This is a reminder that your minimum annual non-refundable deposit for our Pay-Per-Use option is equivalent to three (3) new client files per year. This means a minimum deposit of $350 including tax (ON, BC) or $175 including tax (other provinces) must be paid every 365-day period.
We will hold all your deposited funds and carry them over year-to-year for your future use.
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Did You Know... |
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- Links to the most recent SSAG Papers including the final version released in July 2008 can be found on our Website homepage at www.divorcemate.com.
- You must visit our "Library" on the DIVORCEmate Website. It has lots of easy-to-read and interesting articles. Subjects include: Child Support, Documents of Interest, Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines, User Guides, and Websites of Interest. Please see www.divorcemate.com/library.aspx.
- Here is possibly the biggest news at DIVORCEmate; we have been hard at work for the past 2 years on a completely new version of DIVORCEmate... code named "DIVORCEmate2". What's different? Everything and nothing, really: a complete user interface re-design; simpler and more intuitive input screens; a single page input screen in Tools2 for all personal and financial information and a unified single-page Tools2 printout showing only information that is needed; complicated custody situations handled with ease. Watch for a late 2009 release. However, if you would like to learn more, please contact Mark directly at markharris@divorcemate.com.
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What The Judiciary Has Been Recently Saying About DIVORCEmate... |
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"Ms. B.'s attorney filed a CHEQUEmate Spousal Guidelines Calculator -- 2007 printout. It sets out a complicated calculation of suggested quantum of spousal support, involving, among other things, the length of the cohabitation, age of the parties, who has the children, child support payments, the parties' incomes, taxes and deductions, government benefits and credits, and special expenses for the children. I adopt the CHEQUEmate program for purposes of establishing the spousal support payable in this case. The calculation should be based on 11 years cohabitation, an annual income for Mr. P. of $60,000 and no income for Ms. B. The program suggests a range of support, and I find the top of that range would be appropriate in this case. I direct Ms. B.'s attorney to do a recalculation using the CHEQUEmate program and the figures and guidelines I have fixed above..." P. (N.) v. B. (J.), 2008 CarswellPEI 18, (S.C.T.D.), per B.B. Taylor J.
"Adopting those figures and applying the DIVORCEMATE Guidelines, I award child support at the upper end of the range, as follows:..." Gonabady-Namadon v. Mohammadzadeh, 2008 CarswellBC 968, (S.C.), per Boyd J.
"Having concluded that based on the need of Ms. MacDonald I have reviewed that amount against the calculations provided to me by counsel pursuant to the CHEQUEmate Spousal Guidelines Calculator utilizing the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG) - "With Child Support" Formula... I therefore find that the litmus test of the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines to be met would be an order for spousal support of $900 per month." Hiebert v. Hiebert, 2008 CarswellBC 989, (S.C.), per Chamberlist J.
"According to the father's supportmate calculation, allowing him to deduct the $1,639.00 for income tax purposes will make a significant difference to his net disposable income and have very little impact on the mother's net disposable income because she has no other taxable income." Litzen v. Dorsey, 2008 CarswellOnt 2491, (S.C.J.), per C. Lafrenière J.
"Using the Divorcemate software, the low end of the suggested range for spousal support is $1202.00 per month. Although I recognize that Divorcemate and spousal support guidelines were not in place in 2001, the current day low end calculation from Divorcemate provides a bench mark for comparison purposes. The support which Ms. Leaman received, the $500.00 per month contribution toward a mortgage payment, was substantially out of line with her entitlement under any reasonable analysis." Leaman v. Leaman, 2008 CarswellNfld 87, (T.D.), per W.H. Goodridge J.
"The DIVORCEmate software now provides a number of helpful options for Sched. II calculations, such as including s. 7 contributions and counting child benefits in the comparison." Stewart v. Stewart, 2007 CarswellMan 201, (C.A.), per A.K. Twaddle, F.M. Steel, G.D. Joyal JJ.A.
"Counsel for the parties presented and argued in favour of the above amounts pursuant to calculations in spousal guideline tables calculated under DIVORCEmate, SUPPORTmate and CHEQUEmate. I have reviewed those calculations and the financial statements as to income and expenses filed by the parties. I have also considered the traveling cost now being incurred in order to exercise access with the wife's recent move to Edmonton." Jakubowski v. Kopacz-Jakubowski, 2008 CarswellOnt 2, (S.C.J.), per P. Kane J.
"As a result, the Applicant and Respondent are required to make further written submissions, including CHEQUEmate and SUPPORTmate (DIVORCEmate Software Inc.) calculations and also to address the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines provisions to me before the terms of spousal support are decided." Austin v. Austin, 2007 CarswellOnt 7130, (S.C.J.), per R. Smith J.
"The tax-free portion of the plaintiff's annual income totals $81,120. The taxable portion is $100,632. His income is taxed at the highest marginal rate. According to the DivorceMate calculator, which the parties agreed could be employed to determine the tax gross-up, the additional gross-up income is $61,980. The plaintiff's total income for support purposes, therefore, is $243,742." B. (P.C.) v. B. (T.L.), 2007 CarswellBC 2606, (S.C.), per P.J. Rogers J.
"In making the spousal support determination, I have also considered the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines although neither party referenced the Guidelines in their summations... According to the Divorce Mate calculations, Mr. Marshall has a net disposable income of $2166 per month after the payment of child support. Ms. Marshall has a net disposable income of $3007 per month inclusive of the child support payment. Ms. Marshall is responsible for three people and Mr. Marshall is responsible for one. Spousal support of $200 per month is more than appropriate in these circumstances." Marshall v. Marshall, 2007 CarswellNS 618, (S.C.), per T. Forgeron J.