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of the separation agreement are determined, and can
include anything from spousal and child support arrange-
ments to financial divisions and co-parenting plans.
The remainder of her day is usually spent writing Reso-
lutions Plans. These 18-page documents are a summary of
the decisions achieved by her clients pertaining to their
separation. Once completed, these plans are transitioned
to lawyers for the legal separation and divorce process.
“When you start with Fairway, you’re one person, and
you get one case. Today, I’m lucky and have two addi-
tional staff who help with reception, bookkeeping, and
managing clients. One of my employees is also starting
to take on her own cases, which has been huge!”
Though Fortin is grateful for the extra help around
the office, she says starting on her own when she first
opened has been more beneficial than not. “As a busi-
ness owner, you really need to be able to do everything
in your office, because that’s the only way you can evalu-
ate what is and isn’t working.”
Head office gives its business owners the flexibility
to set up and adjust their processes to better meet the
needs of their clients. “That’s the beauty of Fairway,”
she says. “It’s a structured, well-oiled process, yet head
office allows you the freedom to tweak things for indi-
vidual market requirements.”A new perspective
In what she calls a “gem” of a business model, Fortin
says Fairway is reinventing a divorce industry that has
been outdated for decades. “The cultural expectation of
divorce is that people hate each other, but there are so
many aspects of family life that are not black and white,”
she says. “It’s possible to separate from someone and
still have a positive relationship with them.”
When she first started with the resolution com-
pany, Fortin says divorce mediation was an unknown
concept. Today, it’s a hopeful alternative for separat-
ing couples who want to avoid an expensive and often
time-consuming legal battle. Compared to traditional
law, which takes anywhere between one to two years
for an agreement to be reached, Fairway’s average time
frame is 120 days to resolution.
The business attracts and welcomes owners from a
variety of professional backgrounds, another factor that
Fortin says makes the franchise so unique. “You’re wear-
ing more than one hat,” she says. “You’re not practicing
law, but you have to understand it. And in addition, you
need to understand finance, parenting, and coaching. It’s
very multidisciplined.”
Always eager to learn more about the industry and
her many different roles, Fortin makes it a habit to enroll
in a few workshops a year that explore different aspects
of separation. Though these workshops are not man-A DAY IN THE LIFE