COVID-19 Skype Meetings
NOTICE: COVID-19 IMPACT ON CLIENTS AND PRACTICE OF LAW
Please Note: For your safety and convenience, Verhaeghe Law Office is offering Skype and Zoom meetings with clients during this time. For essential in-person consultations, we kindly ask everyone to sanitize their hands when entering our office. For our part, we are taking diligent measures to make our office as hygienic an environment as possible. Namely, we are disinfecting our boardrooms after every meeting by sanitizing all surfaces and chairs with hospital-grade wipes. In addition, about one-third of our staff is working remotely from home in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19.
COVID-19 has impacted the practice of law and the ways in which we interact with people, but it has not impacted the law, your rights, or your ability to advance your legal matter. As per the guidelines of municipal, provincial, and federal health authorities, Verhaeghe Law Office is adapting our operations to do our part in protecting the community. While some of our services may look different, our commitment to you remains the same. We invite you to read through the various initiatives we are introducing at our firm to continue to serve you during this time:
- New clients can retain our lawyer via video conferencing, provide credit cards for payments with written authorization, and submit documents online via email, text, and other virtual measures.
- Existing clients can make arrangements with current counsel to reduce in-person meetings and advance the file in a manner and timeline he/she deems appropriate.
- Arbitration and Mediation options remain available for those matters that are time-sensitive but not emergencies.
- Family Law Matters can be addressed through video conferencing with 4-Way Settlement Meetings, Mediation, Arbitration, and Child Psychologist meetings to assist parents with different parenting styles, risk assessments, and emergent court applications. Common concerns we are dealing with now are:
- Concerns over a parent’s career and any related risk exposure to the child
- Concerns regarding high-risk investments
- Concerns over homeschooling and shared parenting
- Concerns regarding property value at the date of resolution
- Concerns about uncertain income affecting spousal and child support commitments
- Wills, Personal Directive and Power of Attorneys – instructions and document reviews can be done remotely, and in-person signings can be done quickly while maintaining a safe physical distance in sanitary rooms.
- Real Estate Concerns
- Banks reneging on mortgage commitments
- Buyers or Sellers wanting to extend the closing date or back out of the deal entirely
- Employment Concerns
- Safe working conditions
- Hours expected of employee
- Personal Protection Equipment concerns
- Employment Insurance
- Civil Litigation – the Limitations Act has not been suspended – if you have cause to sue someone, there are time frames by which you must sue them – the court’s filing department remains open to advance new claims.
- Rental concerns – rights and responsibility of tenants