The Legal Problems of Everyday Life - The Nature, Extent and Consequences of Justiciable Problems Experienced by Canadians

Figure 7: Trigger Patterns Among Relationship Breakdown Problems

The flowchart consists of 6 text boxes that represent various problems within the “family: relationship breakdown” category (from figure 6): property, child support, separation, divorce, custody and access and spousal support. The diagram also shows directional arrows originating at the trigger problem and ending at the consequent problem. Each arrow is marked by a numerical value that indicates the number of times a problem of that type was reported as a trigger problem. Separation is the origin of 5 arrows, meaning it is a trigger for all other problems in the flowchart. Separation as a trigger for divorce was the most frequent reported trigger in the flowchart (16). Separation is also a trigger for custody and access (14), property (12), child support (10) and spousal support (7). Divorce is another common trigger, showing 3 outgoing arrows that end at property (7), child support (6) and custody and access (6). Custody and access is the origin of one arrow that ends at divorce (5). Spousal support, property and child support have only incoming arrows, not outgoing arrows. This means they were consequences of other problems but were not reported as trigger problems themselves.