Risk Management and Family Law

• Author: Yvonne Bernstein
• Pages: 413-427

Risk

Management

and

Family

Law

Yvonne

Bernstein

A.

INTRODUCTION

Family

law has

become

an

increasingly more complex discipline with

the

passage

of

time.

Not

surprisingly both

the

number

as

well

as the

cost

of

claims

in

this area

has

increased over

the

past

ten

years. This

paper examines claims trends

as

well

as the

types

of

claims that have

occurred,

and

offers

some thoughts regarding

how to

protect yourself

against

a

successful

negligence claim.

B.

CURRENT

CLAIMS

CLIMATE

Over

the

past

five

years,

the

LAwPRO

claims portfolio

has

been remark-

ably stable

in

terms

of the

total number

of

claims

reported.

This

is not

simply

a

fortuitous event;

it is

largely attributable

to the

robust real

es-

tate

market

in

Ontario

and the

widespread

use of

title insurance

in

real

estate

and financing

transactions.

At the

same time, there have been

no-

ticeable

changes within

the

portfolio

itself.

In

particular, there

has

been

a

significant increase

in the

number

of

litigation claims.

The

practice

of law has

become increasingly more complex.

A

healthy economy

and the

rise

in

real estate values have resulted

in

greater

wealth

for

some clients, which

in

turn means that more

family

Yvonne Bernstein practised

family

law and is now

with

LAwPRO.

413