When a separation involves a private company, the difficult question is rarely just “What does the tax return say?” Retained earnings, shareholder loans, personal expenses, uneven compensation and incomplete disclosure can change both property and support. Heather D. Fraese helps clients work out what the records actually show, what is still missing and which issues are worth pursuing.
Clients turn to Heather for complex family-property and support matters, family businesses, income determination, domestic agreements and mediation. She is the Founding Partner of Fraese Aymont Family Lawyers, a certified mediator and a Calgary family lawyer who has practised family law since her 2012 Alberta call. She also assists families with step-parent and third-party adoptions.
- Role
- Founding Partner
- Family-law practice
- Since 2012
- Credential
- Certified Mediator
- Office
- Downtown Calgary, Alberta
- Core focus
- Complex property and support
- Resolution paths
- Negotiation, mediation and court
- Court-connected role
- Child Support Resolution Officer
- Bar admissions
- Alberta 2012 · British Columbia 2016
For family finances outside the neat boxes
Heather’s practice is especially useful when the legal answer depends on getting the financial facts right. That often includes situations where:
- one or both spouses own a corporation, professional practice, partnership, holding company or other private-business interest;
- reported salary leaves out part of the income story, including retained earnings, shareholder benefits, loans, dividends or personal expenses paid through a company;
- property division and support must be considered together, including the risk of counting the same value twice;
- financial disclosure is incomplete, inconsistent or difficult to reconcile;
- a negotiated result is preferred, but the file needs firm deadlines, disciplined preparation and a credible court position; or
- a pre-nuptial, cohabitation or post-nuptial agreement must account for a business, inheritance, significant income difference or a major change in the family’s finances.
The length of the document list matters less than the missing fact or disputed assumption that could change the result. Heather identifies those points early, so effort and legal fees can be directed to the issues that matter.
Turn disclosure into a financial map
Personal tax returns may be only the cover page of a private-company file. To understand value and income, the record may also need corporate financial statements, general ledgers, shareholder-loan records, compensation history and documents showing who owns or controls related entities. Heather connects those records to the family-law questions and, where needed, coordinates the legal work with accountants, business valuators or tax advisors.
She separates the work into three questions:
- What exists and who owns it? Identify property, debt, corporate interests, exemptions and the records needed to prove each position.
- What is it worth? Test valuation dates, liabilities, tax consequences and whether expert evidence is proportionate to the amount in dispute.
- What income is available for support? Examine whether reported income fairly reflects money available, without assuming that corporate value and support income are the same thing.
The result should be a usable map: what is agreed, what remains unknown, which numbers can be tested and which decision belongs in negotiation, mediation or court.
Useful mediation starts before anyone enters the room. Heather works to have the important disclosure available, the issue list defined, the settlement ranges tested and the drafting questions considered. The meeting can then focus on decisions instead of document chasing.
Her role depends on the retainer. As mediator, Heather is neutral; each person still receives independent legal advice. As counsel in mediation, she prepares and advocates for her client. In either role, the aim is an agreement people can understand, implement and live with, drafted precisely enough to prevent the next dispute.
Getting a support file unstuck
Child Support Resolution Officer (CSRO), King's Bench Child Support Resolution Program. This is a court-connected neutral role in Calgary. A CSRO helps identify the support questions, address missing financial disclosure and determine whether the parties can agree. The program addresses child support and may also address spousal support when child support is in issue. Each party keeps independent legal counsel, and unresolved issues remain for the court.
A support file may be stalled by one missing income record, an unexplained calculation or proposed wording that cannot become an enforceable order. Naming that obstacle can narrow the dispute, identify the next disclosure step or allow agreed terms to be recorded.
“I cannot thank you enough for making this process easier than anticipated. You are genuine and lovely, and I appreciate your professionalism and the way you eased my fears.”
Calgary family-law client of Heather Fraese
When settlement needs a credible court position
Some files settle only after both sides understand what a judge could actually do. Others need a decision. Heather argued Spring v Spring, 2022 ABCA 19 at the Alberta Court of Appeal. The decision addressed when income may be imputed to a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or under-employed. It confirmed that child-care needs and other statutory exceptions must be assessed in context; the court decides what is reasonable on the evidence.
The practical result may turn on employment history, education, health, child-care responsibilities, job-search evidence and the reliability of the proposed income figure. Heather’s case note on Spring v Spring connects the reported decision to the kind of proof a client may need.
Write the agreement for the life you actually have
A domestic agreement has to survive more than the day it is signed. It should account for the business, the income gap, the inheritance, the children and the changes the couple can realistically foresee. In 2023, The Globe and Mail quoted Heather on how post-nuptial agreements can record a couple’s intentions and reduce uncertainty. Her practical point was simple: sound terms require complete disclosure, independent advice, workable drafting and review when the family’s circumstances materially change.
Read Heather’s post-nuptial agreement commentary or the original Globe and Mail article.
Professional record and contribution
- Alberta call: 2012
- British Columbia call: 2016
- Mediation: Certified mediator with experience representing hundreds of clients in family-law mediations.
- Legal education: Contributor to the Alberta Family Law Practice Manual (2024), published by the Legal Education Society of Alberta.
- Education: University of Alberta LL.B. (2011); University of Alberta B.A. in English with a Philosophy minor, with Distinction (2008).
- Professional associations: Law Society of Alberta, Law Society of British Columbia and Canadian Bar Association.
- Court-connected child-support resolution: Child Support Resolution Officer (CSRO), King's Bench Child Support Resolution Program, Calgary.
What to bring to a useful first conversation
A rough, well-chosen set of records is enough for the first call. For a property or support discussion, these four items usually make the conversation more useful:
- a one-page list of the property and debts you know about, including companies and real estate;
- the last three years of personal tax returns and notices of assessment, if available;
- the most recent corporate financial statements where either person owns or controls a business; and
- a short timeline with the relationship date, separation date, major financial changes and any current court or disclosure deadlines.
If a document is missing, write down what it is and who may have it. A clear list of the gaps is often more useful than waiting for a complete package that may never arrive.
About Heather
Heather earned both of her degrees at the University of Alberta. Outside the office, she is a committed distance runner who has completed the Boston, London, New York and Chicago marathons. Long-distance training is part of the patience, preparation and steady focus she brings to demanding work.
