Background

 

Darren practices in the area of Family Law.  His practice includes handling issues such as divorce, parenting time and parental decision making, child support, spousal support, dividing family property and debt, emergency protection orders, and all other types of matters that arise during a separation.

Originally from southern Alberta, he relocated to the North Okanagan in 2019. Prior to focussing on family law, he has handled different types of civil litigation, employment and labour law disputes, contested estate matters, criminal defence, and administrative law matters. 

Darren believes most people do not want a fight with their former spouse, rather they want peace and finality without losing their mind or their wallet. Darren summarizes the issues into 6 main steps for people going though a separation with their former spouse:

1. Living separate and apart and ensuring everyone is safe;

2. Arranging parenting time and parental decision making for any minor children of the relationship;

3. Determining child support for any minor children of the relationship;

4. Dividing family property and debts;

5. Addressing any possible claims to spousal support; and

6. Getting a divorce judgment (if the couple is married) or a final order / agreement if the couple is unmarried. 

Darren always strives to resolve family law issues outside of court, through a separation agreement or even cohabitation (prenuptial) agreements.  If that’s not possible, he is able to help clients litigate through court or through alternative means, such as arbitration.

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Education

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Darren obtained a Bachelor of Management from the University of Lethbridge in 2008.  He then completed law school at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law in 2014. 

He was called to the bar in Alberta in 2015 and then in British Columbia in 2019.

 

Media

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Darren is the proud co-host of Canada’s Divorced and Done Podcast.  It can be streamed on all major platforms with a link to check out the podcast here – https://anchor.fm/divorceddone 

When he is not podcasting, Darren loves sharing family law information on Tik Tok.  You can find his videos here – www.tiktok.com/@familylaw_darrenschmidt 

 

Email

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