St. Albert & Edmonton Family Law & Business Law Firm

Lift Legal in St. Albert is not your traditional law firm. We believe that our relationships with clients should be more than just a business transaction where we provide a service and you pay a bill. We want to get to know you so that we can better meet your needs and so that your experience with us is always a positive one.

 

At Lift Legal we don’t “specialize” in everything. We practice three areas of law and we do them well. Our focus on business law, family law and real-estate law in Edmonton and St. Albert allow us to provide exceptional service in these specific areas. We keep up with new developments in these areas and tailor our services to the unique needs of each of our clients.

 

Lift Legal is proof that you don’t need to hire a big law firm with a big law firm price tag in order to receive top-notch legal services. We always discuss pricing in detail at our first meeting to ensure that there are no surprises or misunderstandings down the line. We believe that families and businesses can greatly benefit from receiving quality legal services and we are willing to work with you to ensure this can happen.

OUR TEAM

Mel Garbe | Lift Legal

Mel Garbe

FAMILY AND BUSINESS LAWYER

Mel is the founder of Lift Legal and is passionate about helping families and businesses in St. Albert and Edmonton achieve their goals.

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Rebecca Garbe

Rebecca Garbe

BUSINESS AND REAL ESTATE LAWYER

After more than a decade as a corporate commercial lawyer at an international law firm, Rebecca decided to try something completely different and joined Mel at Lift Legal.

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Kaylee Del Frari

Kaylee Del Frari

FAMILY LAW PARALEGAL

Kaylee is passionate about family law and after graduating from University joined Lift Legal to explore her interest in law.

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Megan Duckitt

Megan Duckitt

PARALEGAL & REAL-ESTATE CONVEYANCER

Megan is happy to have found a place to work where she is excited to go to work each day to see her work family, collaborate on files and build lasting relationships with colleagues and clients.

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Payge Brenneis

Payge Brenneis

CORPORATE PARALEGAL

After studying many different areas of law in university, Payge was drawn to corporate law, as it requires a specialized focus and attention to detail. Lift Legal appealed to her as a smaller firm where she could quickly develop her skills and be challenged daily.

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Legal Services

At Lift Legal we don’t “specialize” in everything. We practice three areas of law and we do them well.

Business Law

We can advise you on almost all aspects of your business, from start-up to selling your business, and everything in between.

Business Start-Up

We can:

  1. Incorporate a new Canadian or Alberta company;
  2. Incorporate a professional corporation;
  3. Register a federal or extra-provincial company;
  4. Draft Unanimous Shareholder Agreements or Partnership Agreements;
  5. Update an incorporation that you did on your own;
  6. Compile a corporate minute book;
  7. Work closely with your accountant to ensure your business is set up in the most tax efficient manner.

Contracts and Documents

We draft or review:

  1. Service, supply and other contracts to use with your clients or customers;
  2. Employment, consulting and independent contractor agreements to use with your employees and other service providers;
  3. Joint venture, non-disclosure, confidentiality and other business agreements;
  4. Office sharing, partnership and other agreements to assist professionals in managing their business needs;
  5. All manner of commercial agreements that may be specific to your area of business.

Maintaining Your Company

We handle:

  1. Changes to key aspects of your company such as directors, registered address and shareholders;
  2. Alterations to your company’s share structure;
  3. Issue or transfer of shares;
  4. Changes to partnerships such as the addition or termination of a partner.

Selling or Buying a Business

We assist with all aspects of the purchase or sale of a business including:

  1. Negotiating the key terms of the transaction;
  2. Drafting or reviewing a letter of intent;
  3. Drafting or reviewing purchase and sale agreements;
  4. Conducting due diligence;
  5. Preparing closing documents and facilitating the transfer of funds;
  6. Working with your accountant to ensure the deal is tax efficient;
  7. Advising on post-closing matters.

Financing

We assist with all aspects of granting or obtaining financing including:

  1. Reviewing and negotiating loan documents received from financial institutions;
  2. Drafting or reviewing loan and security documents for private financings;
  3. Drafting or reviewing shareholder loan documents;
  4. Advising with respect to providing or obtaining personal property security and guarantees;
  5. Drafting or reviewing security documents.

General Counsel

We can:

  1. Assist wherever your company faces legal hurdles;
  2. Advise on everything from negotiating commercial contracts, raising financing and corporate governance to settling disputes and hiring employees.
  3. Be available to you for advice and direction as your business grows.
  4. Work with your other outside advisors such as accountants or brokers to ensure our legal advice is tailored to align with the valuable insight of these advisors.

Employment Matters

We assist with all non-litigation employment work, including:

  1. Negotiating key terms of employment, consulting, or independent contractor agreements;
  2. Drafting or reviewing employment, consulting, or independent contractor agreements;
  3. Advising employers and employees on terminations.

Advising Your Board of Directors

We can:

  1. Create and deliver training for your Board of Directors;
  2. Create a Board of Directors guide tailored to your specific corporation;
  3. Ensure your Board of Directors is following proper procedures;
  4. Advise on director’s conflicts of interest;
  5. Assist with your Board of Directors competency assessments;
  6. Assist with preparing and conducting an annual general meeting of the shareholders.

Family Law

Looking to make a pre-nuptial arrangement? Or if you need help sorting out your property/time with children upon a split from a spouse. Whatever the issue, we can help.

Marriage Agreement Lawyer

We can create marriage agreements to deal with issues relating to money, property or debt that could arise should your new relationship someday break down.

Separation Agreement Lawyer

We can create an agreement that will allow you to move on with your life without worrying about how long your divorce will take. A separation agreement lawyer establishes terms pertaining to child custody, child support, spousal support, property division, debt obligations and other marital separation matters. It can be registered with the court upon divorce and as a result also serves as an invaluable tool for guiding your relationship with your spouse after divorce and into the future.

Collaborative Family Law

Mel is a certified collaborative family lawyer and he can assist you with achieving a resolution to your family law issue through this process. Collaborative family law is an out-of-court process that enables separating or divorcing spouses to create their own settlement with the support of collaborative family lawyers. Collaborative family law may be the right choice for you if you and your spouse both want to maintain some control over the outcome of your separation or divorce, preserve your relationship as much as possible, put the interests of your children first, and maintain your privacy.

Family Law Mediation

Mel is a certified family law mediator and he can help you and your spouse reach an agreement on some or all of your family law issues. The mediator’s role is to listen to both sides and, without bias, help the two of you find middle ground that you both support.

Real Estate Law

We can advise you on almost all aspects of your real-estate journey, from purchasing to selling your property, and everything in between.

Residential Real Estate

We assist with all aspects of the purchase and sale of residential real estate, including:

  1. Negotiating the key terms of a transaction;
  2. Drafting or reviewing a purchase and sale agreement;
  3. Conducting due diligence;
  4. Obtaining mortgage funds;
  5. Preparing closing documents and facilitating the transfer of funds.

Commercial Real Estate

We assist with all aspects of the purchase and sale of commercial real estate, including:

  1. Negotiating the key terms of a transaction;
  2. Drafting or reviewing a purchase and sale agreement;
  3. Conducting due diligence;
  4. Preparing closing documents and facilitating the transfer of funds.

Commercial Leases

We can help with all aspects of commercial leases, including:

  1. Negotiating the key terms of a commercial lease;
  2. Drafting or reviewing a commercial lease agreement;
  3. Advising on lease termination or extension.

WHY LIFT LEGAL?

We think clients should like their lawyer — we believe you will!

 

We appreciate that issues faced by clients requiring assistance with family law can be extremely personal. We want to hear your story and we will strive to make you feel understood and respected. Similarly, we know how important your business is to you and that it is key that the select group of advisors you choose for your business are as passionate about its success as you are. We want to get to know you and your St. Albert or Edmonton business and be part of the team that will help it grow.

We are not your traditional law firm.

 

We are striving to build a new kind of law firm based on a more personal and client focused way of practicing law. At Lift Legal we believe that constantly watching the clock gets in the way of a trusting and collaborative relationship. We strive to keep the lines of communication with our clients open and honest, and as a result, we will often answer brief questions and respond to emails without additional charges. We offer flexible pricing and payment plans to suit each client’s specific needs and we work hard to build a relationship of mutual respect and understanding with each of our clients.

 

At Lift Legal we take advantage of virtual supports, professional networks and online resources so that we can provide up-to-date, top notch legal services for Edmonton & St. Albert in a more appealing and cost effective manner.

We are looking for clients we can believe in.

 

We all do our best work when we believe in what we are working to accomplish. As a result, we look for clients whose values align with ours so that we are even more motivated to provide exceptional service and advice. We are passionate about helping businesses in Edmonton, Alberta grow and meet challenges and we believe in helping families move through difficult times in the most proactive and amicable way possible.

We help resolve difficult family matters — without litigation.

 

We strongly believe that your family law issues should be resolved by ensuring that you control the outcome rather than a stranger such as a judge. We do not litigate, rather we engage in mediation, collaborative law, and the negotiation of agreements to help guide relationships both before and after separation.

We help businesses succeed.

 

We know that when you are starting a new company or running one on your own, expenses can be high while the budget is low. Getting legal advice is often last on the priority list. Instead of paying high hourly rates at big firms, many business owners choose to forego legal advice altogether and tackle the minefield of incorporation, contracts and other legal matters on their own. We aim to provide you with accessible and affordable St. Albert legal services so that your business can get the help that it needs to allow it to grow and flourish. We can advise you on almost all aspects of your business, from start-up to selling your business and everything in between.

 

We appreciate that as a business owner you probably handle every aspect of your business and we want to help you continue to do that. So we draft contracts that you can not only understand, but explain to your clients. We will help you be as independent as you want to be.

We bring family and business law together.

 

It is not uncommon for the ownership of a business to be a key consideration in the handling of a separation or divorce. Given our depth of experience with business and corporate commercial law, we can provide advice on these aspects of the separation. For example, there is tremendous value added when your family lawyer has the expertise to see possibilities for your business and can handle its sale or restructuring if it becomes necessary as part of a separation.

FAQs

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Lift Legal testimonials - Need a lift? | Lift Legal

“When I went to Lift it was immediately clear that Mel really cared about helping me get the best deal I could get – and he delivered.”

S.D.

“I had been trying to get my divorce done with no success. I met with Mel and right away I knew he would get the job done. He always promptly responded to my emails and kept me fully updated on progress at every step right through to completion.”

S.RC.

“We have turned to Lift Legal on several occasions to assist us in breaking down and resolving complex issues. The Lift Legal team always dissects and explains the issues in a way that is easily understood.”

S.C.

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