Vancouver

Melissa Salfi

Sr. Family Lawyer / Fertility Lawyer / Mediator / Collaborative Divorce Lawyer / Certified Legal Coach
236-476-4236
Initial Consult is Free. After that it's $385/hr
Melissa Salfi

Melissa Salfi

Melissa Salfi is a senior family and fertility lawyer, certified collaborative divorce lawyer and accredited family law mediator. She is committed to helping families through significant life transitions with a warm, compassionate, and practical approach. Melissa has a background in psychology and strives to empower her clients during challenging times. While her litigation experience is considerable, she is also a skilled, adaptable, and culturally sensitive mediator, offering affordable out-of-court resolutions to family law matters when possible.

Empowerment Through Legal Coaching 

As a certified legal coach, Melissa is passionate about helping self-represented litigants navigate the justice system and ensuring their rights are protected. In her collaborative divorce matters, she takes a holistic approach to divorce by assisting clients with the financial and emotional transitions involved in a divorce, in addition to just the legal process. 

Holistic Family Law Solutions 

As a mediator, Melissa is approachable, caring, and perceptive. She is adept at understanding situations and perspectives quickly and is dedicated to finding creative solutions that are tailored to each family she works with. Having lived in five countries and completed training in international dispute resolution in Europe, Melissa brings a culturally sensitive and adaptable approach to her mediations.

Melissa offers the following family law services:

  • Mediation
  • Collaborative divorce representation
  • Separation agreements
  • Cohabitation agreements
  • Prenuptial agreements
  • Postnuptial agreements

Navigating the Complexities of Fertility Law 

Beyond family law, Melissa has an established fertility law practice representing donors, surrogates, and intended parents. Her passion for assisting individuals and couples to build their families is reflected in the fertility law services she offers:

  • Donor agreements: sperm, egg, and embryo
  • Surrogacy agreements for intended parents and surrogates
  • Independent legal advice on fertility contracts
  • Declaration of parentage court applications
  • Litigation over reproductive material such as frozen embryos or gamete

Along with fertility clinic leaders, academics, and legal experts in reproductive law, Melissa is involved in a law reform project on the law of parentage. Specifically, she is a member of the British Columbia Law Institute Project Committee that is tasked with reviewing the law of parentage as set out in Part 3 of the Family Law Act.

See: About Fertility Law | Path to Parenthood

Outside of the office, Melissa is a busy mom who enjoys yoga, café hopping, and connecting with people from different cultures. Melissa is fluent in Swedish and has intermediate proficiency in Spanish and Hebrew.

Mediation

Free Consultation

Get the guidance you need for your family law case. Book your free consultation today.

Resources

Blogs by Melissa

A Look at Surrogacy Laws Around the World PART 3 – CALIFORNIA

Our series about the intricate world of surrogacy began with an exploration of how these laws significantly vary across different jurisdictions.

Do I need Independent Legal Advice on My Fertility Agreement?

The lawyer for the intended parents has drafted the fertility agreement and recommends that the surrogate or donor obtain independent legal advice (ILA) from another lawyer.

Mediation Checklist for Divorce

In real estate, it’s ‘location, location, location’. In divorce mediation, it’s ‘preparation, preparation, preparation’.