Welcome to GILSIG Family Law Agreements & Divorce Mediation

Gilsig Divorce and Family Law Mediation helps you cut the legal, financial and emotional costs of separation and divorce.

My name is Marla B. Gilsig. I am a Vancouver divorce lawyer and I help former spouses separate and divorce amicably. My practice focuses on using family law mediation techniques to help you resolve your disputes in a non-adversarial way. My family mediation services are most beneficial where there is a need for mediation of issues, including reorganization of the family, parenting plans, financial support and property division.

My goal is to help you and your former spouse resolve differences and promote peaceful restructuring in a timely and cost-effective manner. I strive to provide professional mediation services by encouraging … Read more »

Pre-Nuptial Agreements: Don’t Marry Without One

When celebrities, royalty or the wealthy marry and go through divorce, if they don’t have pre-nuptial agreement, the whole world finds out.  Quickly, the media lets us know which spouse’s failure to get a pre-nuptial agreement is going to cost them royally .  The divorces of  Mel Gibson, Paul McCartney and Katy Perry reveal that if they had had pre-nuptial agreements, they wouldn’t have had to give half of their hard earned fortune to their former spouse. 

What could have controlled their spiralling litigation costs and the financial terms of their multi-millionaire divorce settlements?  A Pre-Nuptial Agreement – a simple and cost-effective solution.  A pre-nuptial agreement is a legal document that sets out what each spouse had before … Read more »

Katy Perry and Russell Brand Divorcing: No Pre-Nup is Top Reason

The Pop and the Comedy was noticeably absent from the last act of the Katy Perry and Russell Brand marriage.  The couple spent Christmas apart, Russell was photographed in London, not wearing his wedding band, while Katy was spotted in Hawaii, also not wearing her wedding ring.  Then on Friday, December 30, 2011 Brand filed for divorce from Perry 14-months after their October 2010 nuptials.  In a classic celebrity move, Brand delivered a copy of his divorce documents to TMZ in Los Angeles.

During the past 14 months, the divorce rumours about Perry and Brand have been building to a crescendo.  Perry was on the cover of October 2011 InStyle and in her interview, she was asked about … Read more »

“The Secret Lawyers Aren’t Telling You: How To Pick A Family Mediator”

When you mediate your divorce, time is on your side.  So slow down and make well-thought out, educated decisions.  Your first task is to choose a well-qualified, mediator.  Look for a mediator who has the skill to help you and your former spouse reach a consensus about how to co-parent your children.  What experience has the mediator had parenting children from the early years all the way through to adulthood?  Does the mediator have the financial experience and knowledge to guide you as you decide how to divide up your family assets and debts?  Does the mediator have a good working knowledge of family law? 

A talented mediator knows that lack of time and time pressure can pose … Read more »

October 25, 2011- CLE-TV: Clients with Disabilities that Affect Communication

I am delighted to be speaking to the profession about overcoming barriers to client communication and best practices for dealing with clients facing communication issues on CLE-TV this October 25, 2011. 

Why this Course Is Essential

The leading complaint about lawyers received by the Law Society of British Columbia relates to poor client communication. Aside from failure to contact clients at all there are other problems with lawyer-client communication that raise professional and ethical issues for lawyers. It should be reasonably obvious to practitioners that clear and effective communication is critical to the success of the lawyer-client relationship.  However, more clients than ever are  dealing with aging, disabilities and ESL issues, which increase barriers to clear communication and … Read more »

Mediate Your Divorce: Don’t Lawyer Up and Head to Court

Top Judge sounds alarm over court access in her speech on August 13, 2011. Chief Justice of Canada explained why family divorce cases in particular should avoid the court system…

“In the family area, they get mired in processes that actually exacerbate the dispute and have bad consequences for the children involved and for preserving as much of the family assets as can be preserved.”

Beverley McLachlin would know. She is Chief Justice of Canada’s final court of appeal: the Supreme Court of Canada. When one of the best judges in Canadian history tells you that almost all family matters do not belong in the court processes, reasonable divorcing couples must listen and choose the family mediation … Read more »