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Terms of Service
Our Terms of Service were last updated on December 27, 2023.
Please read these terms of service carefully before using Our Service. These are the Terms of Service governing this Service’s use and the agreement between You and the Company. As such, these Terms of Service set out the rights and obligations of all users regarding using the Service.
Table of contents
Interpretation and Definitions
Interpretation
The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. As such, the following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear singular or plural.
Definitions
For these Terms and Conditions:
- “Account” means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service.
- “Company” (referred to as either “the Company,” “We,” “Us,” or “Our” in this Agreement) refers to MARIA COOK LAW OFFICE.
- “Content” refers to content such as text, images, or other information that can be posted, uploaded, linked to, or otherwise made available by You, regardless of the form of that content.
- “Device” means any device that can access the Service, such as a computer, a cell phone or a digital tablet.
- “Feedback” means feedback, innovations or suggestions sent by You regarding our Service’s attributes, performance or features.
- “Jurisdiction” refers to VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.
- “Membership” refers to the duration of the service, which is provided as long as the membership for the associated Product is active, which in most cases is one year.
- “Products” refers to the products or items offered for sale on the Service.
- “Orders” means Your request to purchase Products from Us.
- “Promotions” refer to contests, sweepstakes or other promotions offered through the Service.
- “Service” refers to the Website.
- “Terms of Service” (also referred to as “Terms“) mean these Terms of Service that form the entire agreement between You and the Company regarding the use of the Service.
- “Third-party Social Media Service” means any services or content (including data, information, products or services) provided by a third party that may be displayed, included or made available by the Service.
- “Website” refers to BC DIVORCE OPTIONS, accessible from BCDIVORCEOPTIONS.CA.
- “You” (referred to as either “You,” “Me,” “I,” or “Your” in this Agreement) means the individual accessing or using the Service, the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.
Acknowledgment
Your access to and use of the Service is conditioned on Your acceptance of and compliance with these Terms of Service. These Terms of Service apply to all visitors, users and others who access or use the Service.
By accessing or using the Service, You agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. As such, if You disagree with any part of these Terms of Service, you may not access the Service.
You represent that you are over the age of 16. The Company does not permit those under 16 to use the Service.
Your access to and use of the Service is also conditioned on Your acceptance of and compliance with the Company’s Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your personal information when You use the Application or the Website and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You. As such, please read the Privacy Policy carefully before using Our Service.
Legal Advice
The Service provides You with various products, services, software, tools and other resources to assist You with obtaining a divorce in British Columbia without legal representation. Furthermore, the Service is owned and operated by a lawyer, but making a purchase of a divorce plan does not include legal advice or representation.
- You agree that the Service has not provided legal advice, opinions, or recommendations about Your legal rights or responsibilities.
- You understand that We will not represent You in court and that the documents will indicate that You represent Yourself. You understand that You should seek legal advice if there is something in the information or the services provided by the Service that You do not understand.
Memberships
Most Products available on the Website have Memberships associated with them. Moreover, the length of the Membership is typically three to four times the amount of time required for a person progressing at a reasonable pace to complete the associated task. As such, Memberships are one-time only, non-recurring purchases. That is to say, they expire at the end of their term and do not auto-renew. Furthermore, We have Memberships to allocate support staff and other finite resources necessary to service You. So, it is important to the operation of the Company that we are aware of how many active Memberships we have at any given time. Finally, all Memberships have the following features:
- Firstly, the length of the Membership is listed on the Product page,
- Secondly, all features and benefits of the Membership end when it expires,
- Thirdly, we may send notices by email from time to time advising you of the Membership status,
- Finally, activating an expired Membership requires purchasing the associated Product again.
Products and Features
Some or all of the following features may be available in a Product. Please refer to the features list on the Product page.
Automated Review
The Automated Review of Your Answers is limited to completeness and internal consistency using proprietary data validation and comparison software, and no person will personally review Your answers. As such, You understand that data validation and comparison software have limitations. Furthermore, You agree to read the paper(s) before signing them and agree to be solely responsible for the final document (s).
Basic Review
The Basic Review includes checking Your documents submitted for filing as described below:
- A document is signed and dated where circumstances require,
- A document asserting to be a marriage certificate has been provided where circumstances require,
- A document asserting to be an affidavit of service has been provided where circumstances require,
- A document asserting to be an affidavit of marriage has been provided where circumstances require,
- A document asserting to be an affidavit of the translator has been provided where circumstances require,
- Attestation of each affidavit has been completed,
- A document asserting to be an exhibit to an affidavit has been provided where circumstances require,
Pro Review
You understand that the Pro Review includes checking Your documents submitted for filing as described below:
- Firstly, the Pro Review will review Your signed documents and answers for comparative purposes to each other to identify any issues that are not compliant with the Rules of Court for British Columbia,
- Secondly, The Pro Review will not review Your answers concerning being correct for Your situation,
- Finally, a lawyer will not perform the Pro Review, and legal advice will not be provided to You.
The Pro Review includes all of the features of the Basic Review plus these additional checks (where applicable):
- The particulars of proof of marriage are consistent with the Notice of Family Claim,
- The applicant’s address and occupation are present and in the proper form,
- The applicant’s affidavit was sworn after one year from the date of separation,
- The applicant’s affidavit was sworn within 30 days of the expected filing date,
- The applicant’s affidavit was sworn after the expiration of time to file a Response,
- The particulars of the applicant’s affidavit and child support affidavit are consistent with the Notice of Family Claim,
- The identification details on the exhibit are consistent with the affidavit,
- The child support affidavit has no reference to documents not in evidence,
- The affidavit of service is in the proper form,
- The particulars of service are present as required,
- The respondent was adequately identified and, if applicable, is corroborated in the applicant’s affidavit,
- The respondent was served within one year of filing the notice of family claim.
Child Support Review
You understand that the Child Support Review is an automated analysis of Your child support answers concerning compliance with the Child Support Guidelines. Furthermore, You understand that:
- Firstly, the Child Support Review calculates child support based on Your answers to residence, custody, and income,
- Secondly, the Child Support Review includes several factors that have been shown to impact child support,
- Finally, the Child Support Review is automated, and no person will review Your answers.
Court Filing Service
The Court Filing Service includes one filing or attempted filing of Your papers with the Court for each court filing specified in the Product. In addition, We agree to follow up on your file with the court and report back to you as information on your case is made known to us.
Furthermore, You agree that if any secondary court filing is required due to any situation or event beyond the control of the Company, You will be responsible for either making the court filing or paying the Company an additional court attendance fee.
Additional Fees
In some cases, fees or services (“Fees”) will be required that are not included by default in the Product. In addition, these Fees may be available from the Website or your chosen third parties. For example, the following additional Fees may be required to complete a divorce:
- Filing fees charged by the court for processing Your divorce application,
- Notary fees for commissioning of affidavits,
- Service of the papers on Your spouse (if applicable).
Accurate Documents Guarantee
We guarantee that the documents produced by the Service conform to the Rules of Court (the “Rules”) for the Supreme Court of British Columbia. As such, We will make any changes due to an error or omission on Our part, as often as necessary, to comply with the Rules, without charge during the Membership (the “Document Guarantee”). Nevertheless, the Document Guarantee is subject to the following conditions:
- Firstly, Your personal information is excluded,
- Secondly, failure to follow our instructions is excluded,
- Thirdly, court error in deciding your case is excluded,
- Finally, at Our request, You agree to provide copies of the court-filed papers and the written reasons for rejection issued by the court (“Verification”).
As such, You understand that refusal to cooperate and provide Verification will invalidate this Document Guarantee. Furthermore, You agree that since We are dedicating time and effort to Your Order, this Document Guarantee is excluded from our Return Policy.
The Document Guarantee is limited to the correction and replacement of documents. It does not include reimbursement of other items such as court fees, notary fees, licensing fees or any additional charge associated with filing for divorce, such as fees paid to third parties with a role in processing Your divorce.
Return Policy
You agree that before buying a non-tangible product from the Company, You have read the description, specifications and all other information published on the Product page and have carefully tested the free demo of the product.
You understand that upon Your request, the Company will provide a full refund for any service subject to the conditions set out below:
- The Company is under no obligation to provide a refund once Your documents have been delivered to them for filing in court,
- All itemization of fees is displayed for convenience only. As such, the Company is under no obligation to prorate any refund for services that are partially complete,
- You agree that fees are not refundable after the Company has contracted with or paid those fees to a third party, such as a process server, a translator, vital statistics, or the court,
- Under no circumstances are court fees refundable once Your documents have been filed in court,
- Finally, all refund requests must be made within 30 days of purchase by contacting support using the contact form on this site.
User Accounts
When Creating an account with Us, You must always provide Us with accurate, complete, and current information. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of the Terms, which may result in immediate termination of Your account on Our Service.
- You are responsible for safeguarding the password You use to access the Service and for any activities or actions under Your password, whether Your password is with Our Service or a Third-Party Social Media Service.
- You agree not to disclose Your password to any third party.
- You must notify Us immediately upon becoming aware of any security breach or unauthorized use of Your account.
- You may not use as a username the name of another person or entity, or that is not lawfully available for use, a name or trademark that is subject to any rights of another person or entity other than You without appropriate authorization, or a name that is otherwise offensive, vulgar or obscene.
File Abandonment
Our Service terminates with the expiration of your Membership. As such, divorces not completed within the Membership period shall be considered abandoned and permanently closed. Additionally, failure to communicate with our office for a period of six months after the Membership expires shall be considered a permanent abandonment and closure of your file. Consequently, any documents in our possession may be archived and ultimately destroyed. As a result, a search fee may be required to attempt recovery of documents from storage. This fee is not refundable should we be unable to locate your document(s).
Limitation Periods
At the present time, there are limitation periods for claiming property division and spousal support, which the divorce affects. For example, if property division is unresolved at the time of divorce, it may be legally impossible to pursue these rights later.
Changes to these Terms
We are constantly updating our Services, which means sometimes we have to change the legal terms under which our Services are offered. For this reason, if we make material changes, we will let you know by posting them to our Change Log.
Change Log
- May 22, 2017: Added inclusions and exclusions paragraphs for the Premium Plan. Updated “Court Filing Service” section. Added “Changes” paragraph.
- March 30, 2018: Added “Core Forms” section. Added “Licence” section. Added “Downloading” section.
- November 11, 2018: Added “Professional Review” section. Added “Platinum Plan” section. Updated the “Court Filing Service” section to clarify what will and will not be reviewed prior to filing. Replaced “Divorce Options” with “DivorceOptions.ca.” Replaced “Licence” with “Subscription.” Updated “General” section to further clarify that the purchase of a divorce plan does not constitute or include legal representation or legal advice. Updated the “Services” section to clarify the divorce certificate feature further.
- August 1, 2020: Added “Basic Review” section and, for clarity, moved content related to the Basic Review from “Court Filing Service” to it.
- August 1, 2020: Added “Child Support Review” section.
- August 1, 2020: Renamed “Child of the Marriage” section to “Child Support Guidelines.”
- January 6, 2022: General changes for grammar and conciseness.
- January 21, 2022: Simplified the Refund Policy and the Document Guarantee.
- December 27, 2023: General rewrite for clarity.