Company Description

Vancouver’s Premier Family Law Firm
Family law solutions that protect your legal rights and financial interests. We’re known for our relentless pursuit of successful results. We understand how to best apply the legal process to your individual situation in order to efficiently pursue optimal results.
Our Law Firm
Thomas and Associates: Trial and Appeal Lawyers — About Our Firm
Thomas and Associates: Trial and Appeal Lawyers is a Vancouver based family law firm serving Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and beyond with over 38 years of combined experience in family law. We help individuals in the Lower Mainland of medium- to high-net-worth achieve fair and equitable resolutions during separation and divorce. We also do wills and estates.

Founded in 2002, and with four lawyers on staff, Thomas and Associates have successfully protected the future of our clients and their children both in and out of court. What sets us apart from other firms is our dedication to using a cost-effective team approach while also getting the best results for our clients.

Our senior lawyer, Garry K. Thomas, is very experienced in challenging cases, especially in court. Mr. Thomas is also well-practiced in appeals and Wills and Estates

Our firm uses team approach to solving family law issues. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team to deliver the sought after result at trial or on a mediation. As our client, you will have access to seasoned lawyers to guide through very complex decisions, as well as access to our young skilled litigation team and collegial problem-solving admin team to make your experience as cost-effective as possible. Our team meets frequently to share relevant information on cases. We are efficient, caring and very experienced, and welcome the chance to advise you on what are sensitive and important matters. We have built our business on establishing trust with our clients and by proving our capabilities both in and out of court. In addition to our strong commitment to excellence in representation at both trial and appeal levels, we also have a strong commitment to continued professional development as well as our community.

Garry K. Thomas
B.A., LL.B.
Garry K. Thomas specializes in the complex financial issues that arise from a relationship breakdown which includes determination of guideline income and child support or spousal support and division of real property, pensions, and other financial assets.

All consultations are offered at Mr.Thomas’s regular hourly rate.

Family Law
Appeals
Custody
Asset Protection
Division of Property
Income Determination & Support

Child Custody
“Custody” pertains to who has the day-to-day care of a child. “Guardianship” refers to the parental rights and obligations regarding children.

Top Child Custody Lawyers in Vancouver, BC
Divorce and separation is a difficult time for both parents and children, and it is important to determine the rules around custody.

Going forward, you will need to make decisions about the upbringing of your child or children, including the amount of time spent with each parent, education, religion, medical care, as well as establishing guidelines to respectfully handle day-to-day decisions.

If parents are not able to come to decisions regarding where the child or children will live, access to the children and future decisions regarding the children will be decided in court.

Custody Agreements
The Family Law Act of 2013 now specifies that the only factor to be considered in parenting arrangements is the best interest of the child or children.

In cases where parents can easily come to an agreement regarding custody and parental responsibilities, we can review your Custody Agreement.

In cases where an agreement cannot easily be reached, a judge will hear both parents’ arguments and the courts will make an order based on what the judge believes is in the best interest of the child.

Parenting Arrangements – Also Known As Custodyand Access
The previous Family Relations Act used the labels “custody” and “access.” Those labels are still used, but different terms are employed under the Family Law Act, including “parenting arrangements,” “parenting time,” and at times, where relevant, “contact.”

“Custody” or “parenting arrangements” refer to the time that a child is with a particular parent. One parent may be the primary parent while the other obtains what used to be called “access,” being approximately 35% to 40% of the child’s time. There can be many variants of this model, depending on the facts of each case.

Shared Parenting
In the arrangement known as “shared parenting,” the parents are able to share parenting equally, such as on a week-on basis.

Split Custody
Sometimes there may be what is known as “split custody,” where, in a three-child family, one child would primarily live with one parent while the other two children are under a shared parenting arrangement.

If parties are unable to agree on a parenting model, then the matter will likely proceed to a trial, where the issue of custody or parenting time will be determined by a court of law that hears the trial and decides the child’s best interest based on a number of factors set out in the Family Law Act.

It is the lawyer’s job to marshal the evidence to establish the child’s best interest in conjunction with the client.

Mobility and Custody Issues
As in any child-based decision, it is the best interest of the child that will determine the result. The new Family Law Act provisions are complex and it is best to seek the appropriate advice from your family lawyer before making agreements or decisions.

In some cases, the party with shared or primary care of the children may need to move with the children to a new or distant location, such as for a job or other reason. If the other parent objects to the move, either a trial or summary trial application is held to determine if the parent is able to move.

There are other resources that can be brought to bear on custody disputes, including parent coordinators and Section 211 authors.

Hiring Parent Coordinators
Parent coordinators primarily assist in the resolution of issues that are irritating and difficult, but normally not central to a dispute. Parent coordinators assist with issues related to parenting scheduling (but not “parent time,” per se), medical and dental matters, extra-curricular activities, and choosing medical doctors or specialists when the parties cannot reach such agreements.

There are parent coordinators trained in different disciplines, such as in law or in psychology
each brings a slightly different skill set to the issues.

Hiring Section 211 Authors
Section 211 authors are trained in psychology to write custody and access reports. These reports offer recommendations to the court and the two parties. The parties on consent can choose a particular section 211 author. It is wise to seek your lawyer’s input in the choice. If the parties cannot agree, the court can impose a choice.

The new Family Law Act encourages the parties to seek out-of-court resolutions in custody disputes. Trials are still available where the parties cannot resolve such disputes. However, whatever method is chosen, an early meeting with your lawyer is very important to begin appropriate planning on how best to handle your case. At Thomas & Associates, our trial and appeal lawyers have significant experience in handling difficult custody and access cases.

Read more information about Section 211 Authors.

Are You a “Contact” or a “Guardian?”
Guardianship is a bundle of parental rights related to child-based decisions. The court has discretion to equally distribute guardianship rights and obligations between parents, or to award decision-making rights or obligations to one parent, excluding the other. The discretionary decision that is made by a court is based on the facts and the child’s best interests.

In most cases, if a father did not live with the mother at the time of the child’s birth, the father is unlikely to be declared a guardian unless he establishes a good relationship with the child in the future years. In these cases, where such a parent obtains the right to see the child, the parent is known as “contact,” and a “contact” has considerably fewer rights and obligations than a “guardian.” Parents who are “contacts” may wish to seek guardianship in the future to change that result.

Appeal of Custody Decisions
Where a court makes a decision concerning a child, there are times when one or both of the parents can seek a change of the court order, a change of the negotiated agreement, or a change of both. The first is following trial, where an appeal may be launched. See the section on Appeals.
Income Determination & Support
Income Determination / Appropriate Support
One of the main keys to determining child support or spousal support payment amounts in separation and divorce is to determine the income of both spouses. The amount of child support is based on the incomes of both parties as well as the number of children.

Determining income can be as straightforward as looking at line 150 of a Notice of Assessment from Revenue Canada.

Income determination can, however, become very complex when people are self-employed, employed by a corporation that they own, or receive stock options as part of their compensation, or have stocks or business shares that fluctuate in value, or have hidden assets or income. Thomas and Associates: Trial and Appeal Lawyers have significant experience dealing with the valuation of businesses, and determination of income in complex factual situations with associated child support and spousal support.

A spouse who solely owns his successful business and receives income from the business may be required to defend an application that his income is higher than what his line 150 income says it is. That is because the business may be so successful that the business for the current tax year or prior tax years has or had excess profits that can be attributed to his income even where he left the funds in the business. Thomas and Associates: Trial and Appeal Lawyers have extensive experience in such areas and can provide advice as to how to deal with such issues. Likewise, the spouse of the business owner would wish to seek this firm’s advice about such issues.

Further, a spouse who solely owns a successful business may have taken greater income for a year for reasons that should not be held against him for support purposes, and again Thomas and Associates: Trial and Appeal Lawyers have the experience to review such detail with a client and determine a strategy to deal with such issues. Planning is a key to success.

A party may be subject to an application that they have the ability to earn greater income than they have actually earned. There are a number of possible scenarios. A party may have reduced their hours of work. A party may have changed how they do business and reduced their income. Some may have simply quit work. Others may not have entered the work force or entered the work force but only on a part time basis. All such background is relevant to determining a party’s income for support purposes.

Child and Spousal Support Issues
Where child support is relevant, once Guideline Income is determined, the Federal or B.C. Child Support Guidelines are applied to the factual matrix to determine the amount of child support.

A number of complex and inter-related factors impact the support calculations. The following factors impact child support:

the number of children
if both parties are biological parents, or if one of the spouses is a step-parent. Biological parents have the primary obligation to support their children, and the obligation of step-parents is analyzed only after the biological parents situation is known, although that analysis depends significantly on the facts
if one party is the primary care giver to the children or if there is split or shared custody
the income of the payor is above $300,000 per year
the children or one of them is 19 or older and still dependent on the parents for one reason or another. The reason for continued dependency is critical to whether the obligation continues or if it does, whether the support obligation is lower than the presumptive amount set out in the Child Support Guidelines.
Likewise, a number of factors impact not just entitlement to spousal support but the monthly amount of support and how long the spousal support should be paid. The factors include but are not limited to:

the length of the marriage
the roles assumed by the parties in the marriage. Such as one party remained home to raise the children whereas the other party focused on his or her career
the respective incomes of the parties at and after separation. Where a payor has income above$350,000.00 potentially different support might result above $350,000.00. However such arguments are involved and complex.
the potential impact of property division on spousal support
the amount of child support paid by the payor. However, sometimes a party in receipt of spousal support has an obligation to pay child support to the other spouse, and in that case, the amount of spousal support is influenced by that background.
To determine income and support, parents may need to produce documents such as income tax returns for the last three years, pay stubs and financial statements for corporations they own.

Thomas and Associates lawyers have significant experience and success in determining income, determining appropriate support, and achieving positive outcomes for clients who would like to defend a stated income even in complex cases. Our lawyers are also good at tracking down hidden or unreported assets or income.

Child Support and Special Expenses
There are two types of child support. The first discussed above is based on income determination and a number of other factors. This is referred to as basic child support.

Basic child support is designed to provide financial assistance to cover primarily food, shelter, basic education costs, and clothing and other basic necessities. The presumption is that the primary parent pays the same cost indirectly and the non custodial parent contributes based on his or her income based on the Child Support Guidelines the required basic child support.

Special expenses and other extraordinary expenses are an additional level of contribution.
Special expenses generally require contribution for the following types of child based expenses:

medical/dental expenses for the child

where there is medical/dental plans, the uncovered or net portion of such expenses

educational expenses that are extraordinary such as tutoring, educational assessment testing

post secondary expenses

extra-curricular activities for the children.
However, special expenses are viewed through a prism of the benefit to the child, and how necessary the service or activity is to the child as compared to the cost and what the parties did in the past with respect to such expenses.

Thomas and Associates lawyers have significant experience and success in dealing with special and extraordinary expenses and achieving positive outcomes for clients in the areas.
Asset Protection
Asset Protection Lawyers
Protecting assets during a divorce can be a big concern. You need to take steps to inventory what you have, determine what you will need for the next months, and protect, document or in consultation with our firm consider securing large joint accounts, joint lines of credit, and items of personal property.

If you anticipate that your spouse may have been or is likely to be financially irresponsible or unfair during a divorce, you should speak to one of our experienced family lawyers immediately about asset protection.

Thomas and Associates have 38 years of experience in advising clients on protecting their assets.

Protecting Assets during Separation and Divorce
There are steps that you can take right away to protect your assets in a challenging divorce or separation situation. However, such decisions should be reviewed with your lawyer to ensure that you are not hurting your interests. To begin with, secure copies of important documents from tax returns, investments, RRSPs, RESPs, bank and credit card statements. Inventory your resources. You may need sources of cash flow to ensure proper representation by a qualified family lawyer in the event of a long or challenging divorce. Determining which sources you have available is an important part of the planning process.

The decision of how to secure and protect property interests should be made in consultation with your lawyer. Acting quickly is important. So too is bringing important information to your lawyer. At Thomas and Associates: Trial and Appeal Lawyers, we have experience dealing with such matters. We can assist you in drafting an Application to obtain an injunction against your spouse improperly dealing with such family assets including bank accounts, lines of credit, mortgages, and perhaps company or business assets.

Just as there are times when injunctions are needed to restrain the improper use of family assets after separation, we can also assist with creating an arrangement that facilitates each spouse having access to funds with the idea of moving forward such that the family assets are secure and each has funds to live off until a final resolution can be made by negotiation or trial.

Spouses owning their own business should appreciate that mechanisms can be put in place to facilitate the use of the business on a go-forward basis. Again, acting quickly to deal with potential property injunctions against a business is important. The sooner that Thomas and Associates: Trial and Appeal Lawyers have the relevant documents, the quicker we can respond and deal with the challenging issues.

Products & Services

Division Of Property ,   Custody ,   Family Law ,   Income determination & support ,   Appeals ,   Asset Protection