Legal advice and financial disclosure

• The clients' individual lawyers, not their mediator, are responsible for advising and instructing the client with respect to the obligation to provide full financial disclosure and the adequacy of the financial disclosure provided by the other spouse.
• It is a condition of participation in mediation that both clients receive independent legal advice prior to commencing mediation.
• The mediation of financial issues is commenced only after clients have exchanged completed and sworn financial statements.
• Each lawyer is responsible for fully investigating all financial issues and deciding if further investigation is necessary.
• Should the mediator identify a difficulty with respect to financial disclosure the parties will be advised to seek further legal advice with respect to this matter.
• The Family Mediation Centre will not include unevaluated defined pensions in division of property agreements.
  The parties will be referred to their lawyers with respect to the issue of evaluation.
  If both counsel agree in writing to an unevaluated sum, the centre may proceed to include that asset in the issues being mediated.
• Any mediated agreement is subject to further legal advice.