New family lawyer in Sharbot Lake

Jeff Green | Jan 13, 2011

Anne Marie Langan has taken an unusual path to the legal profession.

Her first career was in social work, where she worked with the chronically homeless, mostly in the far north. “This gave me an understanding of how poverty is connected to all sorts of family stress,” she said from her new office on Elizabeth Street in Sharbot Lake just before Christmas, as she was setting up her practice.

Anne Marie Langan returned from The North, and did her legal studies at Queen's. While she was practising in Barrie she took her Master's degree in Family Law at Osgoode Hall in Toronto.

She moved to a property near Sharbot Lake just recently with her husband Rick and daughters Sarah and Grace. “We were visiting during the summer and fell in love with the landscape,” she said in describing her family's decision to buy a house on the Frontenac Road, and her decision to set up a new practice.

She says the primary goal of her practice is to “make family law as understandable, affordable and accessible as possible to as many people as possible… Many people who are getting separated or divorced do not want to go to the expense of hiring a lawyer because they feel they cannot afford it. I understand that, but there are some very good reasons why people should at the very least consult a lawyer if they are separating and/or divorcing. Not doing so could potentially cost a lot more.”

In an article that Anne Marie Langan wrote, she described some of the misconceptions or myths that people have about divorce and separation. These include the belief that:

If parents have joint custody of children then neither parent pays child support;

If a spouse leaves the matrimonial home he/she will lose all of their rights to the home;

If a parent is an “access parent” they do not have the right to information about a child from schools, doctors, etc…

Common law partners share property in the same way as married people;

People are considered “common law” for family law purposes after only one year of living together;

All people have to do to “equalize” their property is to share their assets equally when they separate.

“All of the above statements are inaccurate and misleading,” she said. “And following them could lead to problems down the road.”

Langan does not, however, think that settling matters through the courts is a good option in most cases. She encourages people to “try negotiating an agreement 'in principle' with their spouse either directly, or through mediation and getting a lawyer to draft up an agreement based on the agreement in principle.”

Another option for more complicated or difficult cases, where lawyers need to be more directly involved, is a collaborative practice model. “This is a fairly new method where all negotiations take place in four-way meetings, involving both parties and their lawyers. The parties and their lawyers agree at the outset that they will not proceed to court, and that if they do, their lawyers will no longer be able to represent them. They sign a contract that states that they will treat each other with dignity and respect during the negotiation and disclose all pertinent information,” Langan said.

Collaborative practice could also involve other professionals such as financial planners, mental health professionals and others.

Anne Marie Langan is acutely aware of the pain that families go through when there is a split. “Separation and/or divorce is very stressful for all who are involved. However, the methods people choose to resolve their issues arising from separation can make a big difference in the time and the ease with which their family begins to heal.”

She has set up a website for her practice, Langanfamilylaw.com and will be holding an Open House next week to introduce herself to the community. Langan also works with various referral services to make her services more affordable for eligible clients.