"ezDivorce.ca",
"easydivorce.ca", "uncontested.ca" and the 'ez button' logo are trademarks owned by Adam Slater.
For
the purposes of the following, 'ezDivorce'
means Adam Slater, and any other employee, agent, and/or owner of ezDivorce.ca, and includes "easydivorce.ca"
and "uncontested.ca".
The following terms and conditions are
subject to change at any time and without notice.
Terms, Conditions and Disclaimers related to the Separation
Agreement
Because of the significant legal consequences that it can have on many of your
rights, responsibilities and obligations,
both spouses are strongly urged
to seek independent
advice, including, but not limited to, legal, financial and tax advice, prior to executing
a separation agreement.
The purchase of the
ezDivorce
separation
agreement involves filling out a questionnaire that is designed to gather
important information that should be covered by your agreement. You will also be
asked if you want the agreement to cover anything else that was not covered by
the intake questionnaire (and if so, to provide very specific details). You will
not be provided with any advice
whatsoever with respect to answering the questionnaire. If questions arise while
you are filling out the form, you will be directed to various publically
available recourses only.
The purchase of the
ezDivorce
separation
agreement assumes that both spouses have satisfied themselves that they are
aware of their various rights, responsibilities and obligations and that they
have carefully considered everything that they are agreeing to.
To avoid any
problems (conflicts) that may arise between you and your spouse in the course of
drafting your agreement, all communication and directions re what you want your
agreement to include will only be accepted from the spouse initiating the actual
purchase.
The finalized draft of the agreement is meant for each spouse to then take to separate
lawyers for independent legal advice. You are not required by law in Ontario to
do this however it would be a very good idea to do so. If your and/or your
spouse's lawyer want changes to be made to the agreement, just forward them to
us and your agreement will be edited accordingly.
Know before you buy: In addition to the general terms and conditions set
out at www.ezdivorce.ca/terms, the
following disclaimer is attached to the separation agreement.
If you are not
comfortable with it, please do not purchase the agreement:
Neither
ezDivorce
nor Adam Slater is providing you with legal advice
of any nature whatsoever. This separation agreement form was personalized based
solely on information provided by you without any legal advice whatsoever from
ezDivorce or Adam Slater.
Neither
ezDivorce
nor Adam Slater are engaged in rendering legal or
other professional advice to you, and this form is not a substitute for the
advice of your own lawyers, accountants and/or financial advisors.
Both spouses are strongly urged to seek independent
advice, including, but not limited to,
legal, financial and tax advice, prior to executing the agreement.1
Neither ezDivorce nor Adam Slater makes any guarantee, warranty, assurance,
promise, contract, etc. of any nature or kind whatsoever with respect to this
Agreement.
Neither
ezDivorce
nor Adam Slater will be responsible in any manner
for direct, indirect, special or consequential damages caused in any way as the
result of your purchase and use of this separation agreement.
{Where applicable:} CHILD SUPPORT: The parties should be aware that agreements with respect
to child custody, access and/or support are never ‘final’ in Ontario. Either
party can apply to the court in the future to change such provisions of this
Agreement.
{Where
applicable:} NOTE: Per your request, this draft contains language whereby the
parties agree to waive all rights to receive spousal support from each other.
According to Section 33(4) of the Family Law Act, a court may set aside a waiver
of the right to support in a domestic contract despite an express provision
excluding the application of Section 33(4) if the waiver of the right to support
results in ‘unconscionable circumstances’ or if the waiver is by or on behalf of
a dependant who qualifies for an allowance for support out of public money.
‘Unconscionable circumstances’ is not defined and would be determined on a
case-by-case basis.
Section
56 of the Family Law Act provides that a domestic contract, or parts thereof,
may be set aside in certain situations:
Provisions that may be set aside or disregarded:
Contracts subject to best interests of child
56. (1) In the determination of a
matter respecting the education, moral training or custody of or access to a
child, the court may disregard any provision of a domestic contract pertaining
to the matter where, in the opinion of the court, to do so is in the best
interests of the child.
Contracts subject to child support guidelines
(1.1) In the determination of a matter
respecting the support of a child, the court may disregard any provision of a
domestic contract… pertaining to the matter where the provision is unreasonable
having regard to the child support guidelines, as well as to any other provision
relating to support of the child in the contract….
…
Setting aside domestic contract
(4) A court may, on application, set aside
a domestic contract or a provision in it,
(a) if a party failed to disclose to
the other significant assets, or significant debts or
other liabilities,
existing when the domestic contract was made2;
(b) if a party did not understand the
nature or consequences of the domestic
contract; or
(c) otherwise in accordance with the
law of contract.
Barriers to remarriage
(5) The court may, on application, set
aside all or part of a separation agreement or
settlement, if the court is
satisfied that the removal by one spouse of barriers that
would prevent the
other spouse’s remarriage within that spouse’s faith was a
consideration
in the making of the agreement or settlement.
…
Application of subss. (4, 5, 6)
(7) Subsections (4), (5) and (6) apply
despite any agreement to the contrary.
Footnotes:
1. In some
jurisdictions (not Ontario), independent legal advice is required to make
a domestic contract legally binding. In Ontario, whether a court will overturn
or disregard a properly executed domestic contract because one or both of the
parties did not have independent legal advice is decided on a case-by-case
basis. In some cases, the lack of independent legal advice for one of the
parties, although not a statutory requirement, may be sufficient to constitute
undue influence, and so be a reason to set aside the contract. There is no
presumption of undue influence between spouses and unconscionability requires
taking advantage of vulnerability to take a grossly unfair bargain.
2. Both parties
are highly encouraged to complete and exchange Ontario Family Law Rules Form 13.1
“Financial Statement”. While failure to do this does not, in and of itself,
render a separation agreement void, it can be, like lack of independent legal
advice, a factor that the court looks to in deciding whether or not to ignore
the provisions of a separation agreement. The form is available at
www.ezdivorce.ca/form13.
If you are
reviewing this disclaimer (either for the first time or otherwise) after making your purchase and you are now feeling uncomfortable about the purchase, please
contact Adam to cancel your purchase. The fee that you are paying is allocated
entirely to the first draft. Further changes and/or edits are provided at no
additional cost. Thus, the fee is non-refundable after the
agreement has been drafted using the answers and information you supplied on the intake form.
Revised 03 June 2810
