TIP: Always get legal advice

I just attended a presentation on social networking for women entrepreneurs and felt inspired to start a blog. My plan is to post tips for people in Calgary who want some general information about divorce, separating and dividing property that is correct. There is a lot of garbage and sometimes even completely incorrect information available on this topic. So, this is my first tip:

Buck up the money (probably $300 to $700) to have an initial consultation with a lawyer. You can still use other non-legal resources to keep your costs down after a consultation.
You need to do this because:

A. The law is not intuitive: if you try to guess what it is, you will miss things or you may be wrong;
B. The law changes -- things you read or advice from friends may be outdated;
C. The law is simply what our legislators have come up with and our judiciary has interpreted: so it may not resonate with experience or common sense -- it is what it is.
D. Every situation turns on its own facts -- you need someone to tell you how the law will be applied in your situation.
E. Getting divorced does not divide your property. This is separate. Failure to divide your property could leave this issue open to bite you later, or could bar you from dealing with it as a limitation period may expire. You need to know how this works.

The POINT: Get advice from a family law lawyer and get it early.