The Pathway Legal Client Services

At Pathway Legal, we focus on matters related to family law. We also support families with their wills whether they are evolving because of a separation or divorce or simply need to update their wishes.

If you are going through a separation or divorce, you will be well served by our unique approach, developed over many years of practising family law in British Columbia. At Pathway Legal, our former clients often recommend us to their family and friends who are going through a separation or divorce, because they know their loved ones will be in good hands.

As you will see from our summary of services below our Pathway Legal lawyers are able to support you with all aspects of family law. Prevention is often better than the cure so we recommend an agreement relvant to your situation.

For example, let’s say that you and your partner are not married, but want to take your relationship to the next level and move towards marriage. At the same time, you have been married before and do not want to have to divide your assets, should your relationship go sideways for any reason.

A situation similar to this is why a lot of people come to us looking for a marriage agreement. Other times, people are not even sure if they want to marry, but they want to protect their assets in the event of separation. 

Our Services Include Providing These Binding Agreements

As well as supporting you through an uncontested divorce with our flat fees, you can see there are also many types of legally binding agreements that we can support you with at a flat rate. These include:

Separation Agreement

British Columbia's Family Law Act regards you as a common law spouses if you have been living together in a marriage type relationship for more than two years. Nevertheless, it is not a requirement for a couple separating or divorcing in BC to have a legal separating agreement. For example, if you have no family assets, no children, no debt, and no support obligations a couple can divorce without a separation agreement. However, if you do have any of these aspects of your life a legally binding separation agreement is strongly recommended. 

In an uncontested separation or divorce, a Pathway Legal lawyer can assist you to an amicable settlement with our flat fee service. Discover more...

Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements

A Prenuptial agreement is a pre-marriage financial agreement.

A Postnuptial Agreement is a Prenuptial Agreement after marriage. Like a Prenuptial Agreement, it is a financial agreement, except the timing is different in that it gets entered into after people get married and not before.

So why would a couple create a Postnuptual Agreement? In this circumstances, folks either did not get their prenuptial agreement signed before they got married or are having some challenges in their marriage and are unsure if it will last. They want to ensure that if they are heading to separation and ending their marriage, they want to have a friendly divorce instead of a high conflict divorce.

Cohabitation (i.e. Marriage) Agreement:

A cohabitation agreement is like a prenuptial agreement, except it applies whether or not you get formally married. A common law marriage agreement, or cohabitation agreement, must be entered into before you have been living together for two years.

In other words, it is a common law marriage agreement without having to be married. 

Because of the BC Family Law Act, many people are unaware that they may have significant financial obligations to the person they live with. Unbeknownst to them, they create obligations for themselves without having taken the step of getting married!

Your Pathway Legal lawyer will tell you that having clarity of agreement in the event of the breakdown of your relationship (because let’s face it, a lot of relationships do break down), will reduce a lot of emotional and financial turmoil in your life. A cohabitation property agreement ensures that you and your partner will know your obligations, entitlements and responsibilities in the event of your breakup.

How Are Pathway Legal's Family Law Services Unique?

•  Court as a last resort: 
  The last thing you need is to drag your changing family through the court system. If we can avoid court, we will.
• Transparent billing: 
  Know exactly what you are being billed right the way through.
• The goal of resolution:
  It is stressful to have your family matter outstanding. You want it resolved. Every time you meet with us, we get you closer to the goal of final resolution.
• Dispute Resolution: 
  We have lawyers at Pathway Legal who have dispute resolution training. The extra value to you is that it provides a powerful level of skill in keeping clients out of court while still getting the matter fairly.
• Demystifying the law: 
  Nobody likes long-winded and stuffy sounding legal words. At Pathway Legal, we describe the law and your rights and responsibilities in straightforward terms.
• Care and nurturing:
  We mean it when we say you are in good hands. We are more than your lawyers, we are an entire legal team that cares about you and your changing family.

What clients say about some of our services

Customer reviews on Google

Rebekah Veilleux

If you need a reliable and effective Divorce and Family Law firm that excels in mediation and strives for positive outcomes, I can confidently say that Pathway Legal is the best choice. They truly care about their clients' well-being and deliver exceptional service, providing a peaceful resolution for families in need. Thank you, Pathway Legal, for guiding me through this difficult time and securing a brighter future for me and my children.

Lana Morris

I had the pleasure of having both Katie Sutherland and Val Hemminger as my lawyers! They both have a passion for family law and it showed in each and evening time I met with them. Not only were they both professional but they truly care about their clients… with both of them I could cry, express my frustrations and even though this was a hard year… we even had a lot of laughs together. Val and Katie always put my children first and encouraged me to seek counselling for myself! It was never only about the law to either of them, it was first and foremost about family.

Nick Accarion

I highly recommend this firm they were able to understand our family dynamics even though we were coming from a place of desperation and it was complicated. They were able to navigate our needs in a courteous professional affordable way, and make our separation amicable. I hope to never go through an experience like this again but knowing there's a firm like this made it much easier for me and my loved ones. Highly recommend.

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Val Hemminger, divorce lawyer and owner of Pathway Legal, and her team serve families all over BC, including Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Victoria, Langley, Kelowna, and Maple Ridge.

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Fri: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Pathway Legal Law Corporation, Val Hemminger, Be the Best Divorce Lawyer. All rights reserved.

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It is with our honour and gratitude that we live, work, and play on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.