Who We Are
As a lawyer, financial planner and psychologist, MELCA’s founders have spent their careers working with separating couples both in and out of court. Through their many years of experience, it became clear that the cases where the couple settled out of court with the support of a collaborative team had the best results.
Marguerite Picard, Collaborative Lawyer
I see my job as a lawyer differently from the way most of the profession sees its job. I’ve been doing this work for more than three decades now, and as a legacy of that, my aim these days is to be a facilitator and peacemaker. In co-founding MELCA, I made a decision to team up with psychologists and financial planners to help separating couples reach agreements, because I think that’s the best way to approach divorce and separation.
I am an Accredited Specialist Family Lawyer, Collaborative Practitioner, Mediator, Arbitrator and Collaborative Trainer. During my lawyer life, I have worked in criminal law, property and commercial and wills and estates, before specialising in family law some 20 years ago. All of this has been incredibly interesting (for me) and has added to the sum of the lawyer I am today.
There’s lots more I could say about organisations that I’ve been involved with and what I think about me, but I’m sure that’s beside the point for most people. I hope that what we do here at MELCA says it all.
Tricia Peters, Collaborative Financial Planner
As I witnessed the financial turmoil people go through when having a ‘traditional’ divorce, I knew they were not getting the help they needed with the financial planning aspects.
Clients came to me after settlement, worn down by the negotiations with the other side, often without any idea about what their settlement meant for them. Many were shattered about the loss of the future they had dreamed of and planned for, with no picture of what their future would be like. I wanted to do something about this and give everyone the help and guidance they needed when making financial decisions that would affect the rest of their lives.
I couldn’t believe how much money my clients had spent battling it out in the legal system. What I knew was that if they’d had any idea what their total bill would be when they started out, they would have looked for other ways to resolve their financial separation.
Co-founding MELCA was a way to offer clients an experience of separation that maintained the possibility of positive outcomes.
Anne Gifford, Case Manager
Anne has been with MELCA since our doors opened in 2010 and is our specialised Case Manager for every case and project. This is a role unique to the MELCA model ensuring that every person involved in every case has a cohesive and seamless experience. Anne is the first point of call for families and professionals and brings everyone together to ensure a peaceful approach to separation. Anne is with each family member from the start to finish. She brings significant experience in administration and organisational management.