Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions For
The Family Law Coach Services

These Terms and Conditions apply if you use any of the Services and Solutions offered through The Family Law Coach.

Every website has its own set of Terms and Conditions. So do we. If you use one of the Services or Solutions offered through The Family Law Coach, you need to know that what’s set out here will be binding on you and that you’re accepting them if you continue.

If you have any questions about our Terms and conditions, or anything else about our site, please call us at

416 639-0894 or 1 888 670-9661,
or email us at:
info@thefamilylawcoach.com.

1. Things to know about us

The Family Law Coach isn’t a law firm and doesn’t provide any legal services. But there are experienced family law lawyers, licensed to practice in Ontario, who are affiliated with us and who have agreed to provide the Services and Solutions shown on The Family Law Coach website at the prices set out there.

When you request a Service or Solution (from here on we’ll just use the term “Service” to include both), you’ll be connected to one of these lawyers who will then become “your Coach lawyer”.

It’s the mission of The Family Law Coach to connect people acting for themselves in  family law matter with information and assistance to help them become more effective in their written and spoken presentation, and more confident about their outcome in court.

2. How The Family Law Coach Service Works

You’ll go through the process of giving us your Consent to act, your intake information, and your initial payment, online. That will be sent to us and given to a Coach lawyer to carry out your request.

Your initial payment for the Legal Advice and Coaching Solution covers the first hour or two, of your Coach lawyer’s time, depending on what you’ve paid for. Your Coach lawyer will go through your intake information and any material you send and get in touch with you.

It’s then up to you if you want more time to be spent on your matter. (Heads Up: Most people decide to use more than the initial amount of time, but how much is up to them.)

All of the service is provided online, through email, and by telephone. No need to attend at your Coach lawyer’s office at times convenient for the lawyer. No need to either lose time from work or get child-care just to see your Coach lawyer. No unnecessary travel. No big up-front retainer.

3. What your Coach lawyer will expect from you

You’ll be  accurate and fulsome, won’t leave out important facts or mislead your Coach lawyer, and will be open and honest.

You’ll cooperate with your Coach lawyer by providing the information they request.

Your Coach lawyer is depending upon you being truthful and accurate because the advice and assistance she or he gives to you could be different if there was something they didn’t know about.

As well, you’ll be responsible for:

  • all communications between you and the other side,
  • any negotiations, and
  • representing yourself at any court appearance.

You remain in charge of your case.

4. What you can expect from your Coach lawyer

You’re not paying your Couch lawyer to provide traditional, full-service. You’re paying for focused assistance to be provided by way of what lawyers call an unbundled, or limited scope retainer. That is, to do part but not all of what a full-service lawyer does.

We start with the proposition that you’ll likely do better in court if you use an experienced family law lawyer offering a traditional, full service, experience. People in family court with lawyers have been shown to be much more successful than those handling their matter on their own. (A recent 4-year study showed that people in Superior Court in Ontario acting for themselves lose 5 out of every 6 cases when there’s a lawyer on the other side.) But not everyone can, or wants, to afford to hire a full-service, traditional, lawyer.

That’s where The Family Law Coach and your Coach lawyer come in. For us and our affiliated Coach lawyers, the object is to get to you the assistance you need in an affordable, flexible, and convenient way. That means there are things that a traditional, full-service lawyer, charging full rates, would do that your Coach lawyer won’t, unless you ask them to.

Your Coach lawyer will spend the time you buy doing what you want them to do.

The Rules of Professional Conduct sets out what a “competent lawyer” means. Rule 3.1-1 has 11 sub-sections, one of which has 8 sub-sub-sections. It’s a long and thorough list and requires a lot of time to do everything. It’s something every traditional, full-service, lawyer is to do for full fee clients. And something full fee clients have to pay their lawyer to do even if they don’t feel it needs to be done in their case. This takes time and builds expense. Time is money. Doing everything on the list builds up cost for the self-rep.

But in an unbundled or limited scope retainer, the client can restrict what they want their lawyer to do. All of the Services your Coach lawyer offers are considered to be unbundled or limited scope retainers.

To keep costs down for self-reps, your Coach lawyer won’t necessarily do all of those things unless you and your Coach lawyer agree otherwise. In particular he or she won’t necessarily do all of the things set out in Rule 3.1-1 (b) and (c).

Chapter 3 Relationship to Clients

SECTION 3.1 COMPETENCE

Definitions

3.1-1 In this rule,

“competent lawyer” means a lawyer who has and applies relevant knowledge, skills and attributes in a manner appropriate to each matter undertaken on behalf of a client including

(a) knowing general legal principles and procedures and the substantive law and procedure for the areas of law in which the lawyer practises,

(b) investigating facts, identifying issues, ascertaining client objectives, considering possible options, and developing and advising the client on appropriate courses of action,

(c) implementing, as each matter requires, the chosen course of action through the application of appropriate skills, including;

(i) legal research

(ii) analysis,

(iii) application of the law to the relevant facts,

(iv) writing and drafting,

(v) negotiation,

(vi) alternative dispute resolution,

(vii) advocacy, and

(viii) problem-solving,

(d) communicating at all relevant stages of a matter in a timely and effective manner;

(e) performing all functions conscientiously, diligently, and in a timely and cost- effective manner;

(f) applying intellectual capacity, judgment, and deliberation to all functions;

(g) complying in letter and in spirit with all requirements pursuant to the Law Society Act;

(h) recognizing limitations in one’s ability to handle a matter or some aspect of it, and taking steps accordingly to ensure the client is appropriately served;

(i) managing one’s practice effectively;

(j) pursuing appropriate professional development to maintain and enhance legal knowledge and skills; and

(k) otherwise adapting to changing professional requirements, standards, techniques, and practices.

You can access the entire Rules of Professional Conduct by clicking here.

Depending upon the situation, your Coach lawyer may feel that some or many of the things listed above need to be done. But if you want a lawyer to do all of them, hire a traditional, full-service, full-fee, lawyer.

You can feel comfortable, however, knowing that you’re not releasing your Coach lawyer from the obligations set out in the other 8 factors listed in Rule 3.1-1.

As well, your Coach lawyer will let you know if the Service you’re requesting, at the agreed upon price, isn’t right for you, and you’ll discuss if there are other Services that might be more appropriate. You will accept that decision.

And lastly, because you remain in charge of your own case, you’ll be responsible for making the decisions and choices in your case.

5. Your Release and Our No Hassel Guarantee of Satisfaction

You’re agreeing, by proceeding to use a Service provided by your Coach lawyer, to release that lawyer and The Family Law Coach, from any claim of negligence or liability if there is any problem arising from something you didn’t tell your Coach lawyer or provide that was requested or relevant to your matter.

In exchange, The Family Law Coach and your Coach lawyer give you a no hassle guaranteed of some of your money back if you’re not satisfied for any reason. We’d appreciate you telling us why you weren’t satisfied so we can make improvements for the future, but you’re not obliged to. Check out The Family Law Coach No Hassel Guarantee, which each of our affiliated Coach lawyers accept.

Waiver and Release of Liability

You’re releasing your Coach lawyer and The Family Law Coach from any liability for not complying with certain Specified Provisions of Rule 3.1-1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct of The Law Society of Ontario

The best predictor of success in court is to have full, traditional, legal representation. But if you can’t afford, or don’t want, to pay for that, you can hire a lawyer to provide  unbundled, or limited scope, services. This is a limited, or targeted, service. It provides a piece of, but not all of, what a traditional legal service would deliver.

For Services provided by lawyers affiliated with The Family Law Coach, (Coach lawyers) this includes some or all of legal information and advice, practical coaching, strategic analysis, drafting, or such other assistance that you want, and your Coach lawyer agrees to provide. It’s not traditional, full-service, legal advice and representation. It doesn’t involve dealings with the other side, and it doesn’t involve attending in court for you.

To keep you costs down, your Coach lawyer will rely on the information you provide and not perform the duties set out in Rule 3.1-1 (b) and (c) unless you and your Coach lawyer agree that some of them should be done. The full Rule 3.1-1, with sub-rules (b) and (c) highlighted are found above.

You’re not asking your Coach lawyer to take the time to obtain, review, and consider all of the information and material that would normally be required as part of a traditional, full-retainer service. In fact, you’re telling your Coach lawyer not to make any independent investigation or to seek additional information from you, or any source unless you specifically request it.

To get the Service you’re requesting at the cost you’re paying, and to get the money back Guarantee that applies to the Service, you’re releasing you Coach lawyer from doing what Rule 3.1-1 (b) and (c) call for and are releasing your Coach lawyer from any liability for not doing any of that.

Releasing your Coach lawyer from any liability that means  won’t sue your Coach lawyer for not doing anything set out in Rule 3.1-1 (b) and (c), or make any claims to the Law Society of Ontario or any other body, or make any other claims, related to your Coach lawyer not doing those things.

You’re not releasing your Coach lawyer, however, from the other obligations set out in the rest of Rule 3.1-1.

Both your Coach lawyer and you understand that full, traditional, full-service, legal advice would require your Coach lawyer to perform more activities and functions than you want to pay for. It would require more information and time, and that results in an increased cost. Your Coach lawyer is relying on the fact that you are not asking your Coach lawyer to provide full service advice to you, you’re not expecting your Coach lawyer to provide it on his or her own initiative, even if he or she believes, or might come to believe, that if more time was spent and more investigations made, that would be helpful to you.

You’re fully accepting total responsibility for how you use the information from your Coach lawyer or The Family Law Coach and you’re relieving each of them from any liability for whatever information or advice is given to you or that you obtain from either of them or how you use it, as well as any liability for not giving to you anything that might have been brought to your attention as part of a traditional, full retainer service. You’re releasing both your Coach lawyer and The Family Law Coach completely from any liability related to the Service you choose.

This constitutes a full and final release to The Family Law Coach and your Coach lawyer for the matters set out above. By providing payment for the Service you’re requesting you’re confirming that that you are bound by this Release.

7. If things aren’t working out

Relationships are important. For the Services your Coach lawyer will be providing to work, you and your Coach lawyer need to have trust and confidence in each other and there needs to be mutual respect. You can stop working with your Coach lawyer at any time if you lose don’t feel the relationship is working for you.

Equally, it’s the right of your Coach lawyer to end the relationship for any reason they feel is appropriate. This might be because the two of you aren’t getting along, your Coach lawyer feels you’re asking them to do something they don’t feel is appropriate or that might not be ethical or legal, or any other reason. Or it might simply be that your Coach lawyer feels there isn’t enough time or information for them to be helpful.

At all times, you can use the No Hassel Guarantee if you feel it’s appropriate.

8. We don’t make promises

You accept that by providing you with the Service you’re requesting, neither The Family Law Coach nor your Coach lawyer is promising or predicting any particular outcome. Your Coach lawyer is relying entirely on your disclosure of facts. You recognize that the way you handle your matter, and the decisions you make, are entirely your responsibility and will have a strong influence on the outcome of your matter.

9. Payment arrangements

One of the ways that our Coach lawyers can keep the cost down is to have prompt payment of fees. Generally, we start with the payment in advance for the first 1 or 2 hours and then tell you as the matter goes along that additional payment is needed. We operate on the assumption that you intend to pay for the work and will let you know from time to time when more money is needed.

You Coach lawyer reserves the right to stop working for you if there is money owed but not paid.

10. Confidentiality

Keeping your information private and ensuring that there is full solicitor-client confidentiality is a big deal. All of the Coach lawyers are sensitive about this and do the best they can to preserve your confidentiality.

Before providing you with the Service, your Coach lawyer will check to see if there’s any conflict of interest if he or she acts for you. A conflict would arise if your Coach lawyer had received any information about your matter from the other party of if he or she had ever acted for the other party. If so, your Coach lawyer will let you know. For this to happen you’ll need to give your Coach lawyer the name of the other party in your matter and possibly the names of any lawyer who has been, or still is, involved in your matter for either you or the other party.

If your Coach lawyer believes that there is a conflict of interest, you’ll be advised that she or he can’t act for you or have any dealings or relationship with you, and no charge will be made by that lawyer for the Service.

You also need to realize that The Family Law Coach is available for anyone to access, and that the other party in your matter may have been in contact with it. The Family Law Coach undertakes to make best efforts not to assign your matter to any Coach lawyer who has had dealings with the other party either through that lawyer’s private practice or through a referral from The Family Law Coach. As well, it will use its best efforts not to assign any matter on behalf of the other party to your Coach lawyer. There is nothing, however, that prevents The Family Law Coach from assigning different lawyers from different law firms to parties who may be adverse in interest, or on opposite sides of your matter.

Lastly, The Family Law Coach uses the services of third-party suppliers from time to time and cannot be responsible for their actions. Every effort is made to be sure that those parties have no personal information about you apart from what’s necessary for them to provide their service. Obvious examples are bookkeepers.

Check out The Family Law Coach’s Privacy Policy at: www.thefamilylawcoach.com/privacy-policy/