Why do I need a support opinion?

A support opinion can help you:

• reach a separation agreement quickly,
• save tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, and
• avoid years of messy court battles.

With a support opinion from Davidson Fraese in hand, you can be confident that you understand your legal position in relation to the calculation of spousal support and child support. Accurate and reliable support calculations can be a crucial step towards negotiating a separation agreement with your former spouse.

If negotiations fail and you have support calculations from a qualified lawyer, you can provide that analysis to a judge or mediator to support your position.

While there are no guarantees of success, preparation is critical to proper presentation of your case. A support opinion can be an invaluable piece of the puzzle.

What is a support opinion?

A Davidson Fraese support opinion includes a detailed analysis of the support that would be payable in your specific circumstances, assuming entitlement.

Our opinions include a cover letter summarizing our analysis, then several pages of detailed calculations for both types of support based on the formulas in the Child Support Guidelines and the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines.

We also provide a summary of the information on which the above calculations are based, often referred to as financial disclosure or simply "disclosure", and these supporting financial documents will be attached as an appendix to make it easy for a mediator, lawyer or your ex spouse to understand how the calculations were generated.

What steps are involved in a support opinion?

The process starts with a lawyer reviewing your financials (tax returns, business financial statements, investment income, etc.).

The lawyer will then calculate a range of support using the applicable Spousal Support Advisory Guideline formulas. These calculations will result in a multi-page spreadsheet setting out our analysis and conclusions.

We summarize that analysis in a concise cover letter that gives you the bottom-line dollar range of support that is payable in your circumstances based on the information we have available to us.

Our goal is to provide clear and precise calculations of support based on reliable documentation. That said, our calculations are only as good as the information you provide, so we will work with you to ensure your financial disclosure is in order and may require you to obtain documents from your financial institution or from your spouse in order to complete your opinion.

At every stage of the process our lawyers are ready to answer questions and provide information. We work with you to complete a reliable and accurate support analysis.