Legal Help from Home: Family Resolution Centre & Dialogue Tool

Legal Help from Home is a Clicklaw Blog series highlighting free or low-cost resources available during COVID-19.

Public health directives associated with the response to COVID-19 have changed accessibility to various services, creating what can be a confusing landscape for anyone needing access to legal resources. To ease confusion and highlight resources available, Clicklaw has put together the Covid-19 Resources for British Columbians wikibook. We will also be featuring legal help and tools in this and other Clicklaw Blog posts. The resources featured in this series provide help beyond finding legal info and are accessible from home or remotely.

Parenting plan during COVID-19: the Family Resolution Centre

Legal Aid BC offers a service to help separated or divorced couples put together a parenting plan, called the Family Resolution Centre. This tool is beneficial to families who need assistance with creating a plan to raise their children separately, with the outcome being a parenting plan that operates in the best interests of the children. The service is free and open to everyone.

How will it work?

After filling out initial intake forms, each parent will submit their proposed parenting plan separately and will be able to access and work on them at their convenience. The plans will cover issues such as decision making, vacation time, transportation, and other important topics.

If parents disagree on some items, there is an option for free mediation. Professional mediators are available to work with the parents to help find a resolution, providing up to five hours of their time at no cost.

Working out a separation agreement: the Dialogue Tool

The Dialogue Tool helps you create a separation agreement by working to find terms that all parties can agree to, with the best interests of the children in mind.

How will it work?

This tool starts with an intake process where both parents:

answer questions about the current situation, and
present ideas for the future in areas such as child support, children’s care and property and debt.

Once both parents have inputted the required information, the system looks at the answers provided and creates a custom separation agreement to be filled out. A Chat feature allows both parents to discuss ideas and complete sections once both have agreed.