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Difference between revisions of "Family Relationships"
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→Introduction
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
Being in a family relationship can create legal obligations in addition to the moral and social obligations that we usually associate with a family relationship. Under the old common law, for example, a husband had the legal duty to provide his wife and children with shelter, food and the other basic necessities of life. Although this obligation still exists under the federal ‘’Criminal Code’’, it has been a part of the legislation on family law since the 1857 English ‘’Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act.’’ As society has evolved, so have the obligations triggered by different kinds of family relationships. Family law in British Columbia presently deals with four kinds of family relationship. | |||
*’’’Married spouses:’’’ People who are married spouses have been wed at a ceremony conducted by someone licenced by the province to perform marriages. Married relationships end when a court makes an order for the spouses’ divorce. | |||
*’’’Unmarried spouses:’’’ People who are unmarried spouses have lived with each other in a “marriage-like relationship” for a certain minimum amount of time; this is the sort of relationship people mean when they talk about “common-law spouses”. The relationships of unmarried spouses end when they separate. Unmarried spouses do not need to get a divorce. | |||
*’‘’Unmarried parents:’’’ Unmarried parents are people who have had a child together but never lived together. Unmarried parents might include people who have helped someone have a child through assisted reproduction, like being an egg donor, a sperm donor or a surrogate mother, depending on what an assisted reproduction agreement might say about who’s a parent and who’s not. Unmarried parents also include people who were in a dating or casual relationship and have had a child. | |||
*’’’Children’s caregivers:’’’ Extended family members and other adults may have a parent-like relationship with a child who is not their biological child. This might include grandparents, aunts and uncles and other people who have had a significant role in raising a child. | |||
===Married Spouses=== | |||
To be able to marry, the parties must be, among other things, unmarried, sane, sober and over a certain age. They must also be married by a person properly licenced to conduct marriages, either a civil marriage commissioner or an authorized religious official. The process for getting married in British Columbia is described in detail in ______ page of this website, and the next page, _____ , provides a lot more information about the law relating to marriage. | |||
==== | ====Living Together==== | ||
Many, if not most, people who marry live together before they tie the knot. It is important to know that a lot of the rules about property and debt under the ‘’Family Law Act’’ are based on when a married couple began to live together if that date is earlier than the date of marriage. | |||
====Marriage==== | |||
The law about marriage has changed enormously over the last three centuries; marriage once had a much more important legal significance than it does today. Before about 1890, a married couple was legally considered to be one person. A husband took ownership of all of his wife's property on marriage and could use his wife's assets as collateral for loans. His wife, one the other hand, lost the ability to hold a bank account in her own name, sell her property without her husband's consent, or start a law suit or run a business in her own name. Women who hadn't married, on the other hand, could own property in their own names, have bank accounts, sue and be sued, and run a business. | |||
The institution of marriage was once of such social significance that people could be sued for attempting to interfere with a married couple's relationship. Until 1972, it was a civil offence to falsely boast that you were married to someone (called ‘’jactitation of marriage’’) or to lure a spouse away from a married relationship (called ‘’criminal conversation’’), and a court proceeding could be brought against someone for loss of the benefits of marriage (called ‘’loss of consortium’’). | |||
All of these old rules are now extinguished in British Columbia and married couples are no longer considered to be a single legal person, with the husband having sovereign rights over his wife and her property. Since 1978, married women have had exactly the same property rights that single women have, which are also happen to be the same property rights that their husbands have. A husband can no longer apply for credit in his wife's name or use her property as collateral for a loan without her express permission. On top of this, the old rules restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples have now been abolished, first by the courts and then as a result of the federal ‘’Civil Marriage Act’’. | |||
If there’s a difference anymore between being in a married spousal relationship and being in an unmarried spousal relationship, that is a difference apart from the religious dimensions, it's probably that marriage often implies a greater sense of personal commitment to the relationship and a willingness to treat the relationship as a true partnership. Marriage suggests something more permanent than an unmarried relationship and signals a personal dedication to nurturing the relationship and a willingness to stick it out through the good times and the bad. | |||
At law, the most significant difference between married and unmarried spousal relationships is that only married spouses need a divorce or annulment to end their relationship. | |||
====Annulment==== | ====Annulment==== | ||
If one or more of the requirements of a valid marriage are lacking, | If one or more of the requirements of a valid marriage are lacking, a marriage may be cancelled, or ‘’annulled’’. To obtain an annulment, one of the parties must begin a court proceeding asking for an application for declaration that the marriage is void. A marriage may be annulled if: | ||
#a female spouse was under the age of twelve or a male spouse was under the age of fourteen (the common law ages of puberty); | |||
#one or both of the spouses did not consent to the marriage; | |||
#a male spouse is impotent or a female spouse is sterile going into the marriage; | |||
#the marriage cannot be consummated; | |||
#the marriage was a sham; or, | |||
#one or both of the spouses agreed to marry as a result of fraud or misrepresentation. | |||
More information about void marriages, voidable marriages and annulment is available in the next page, _______ . | |||
More information about void marriages, voidable marriages and | |||
====Separation==== | ====Separation==== | ||
Separation is simple: the parties must simply start living "separate and apart" from | Separation is simple: the parties must simply start living "separate and apart" from each another, whether under the same roof or in separate homes. Contrary to popular opinion, you do not need to see a lawyer, sign something or file some sort of document in court to obtain a separation. You just need to call it quits and tell your spouse that it's over. | ||
For married | For married spouses, separation may signal the breakdown of their emotional relationship but doesn’t end their legal relationship. To do this, one or both spouses must apply to court for a divorce. | ||
====Divorce==== | ====Divorce==== | ||
Divorce is the legal | Divorce is the legal termination of a valid marriage. To obtain a divorce, one or both spouses must begin a court proceeding asking for a divorce order, and at least one of the spouses must have been ‘’ordinarily resident’’ in British Columbia for the year before starting the court proceedings. | ||
The court will make a divorce order if the married relationship has broken down. Under the federal ‘’Divorce Act’’, there are three ways to prove marriage breakdown: | |||
#the spouses have been separated for at least one year; | |||
#one of the spouses committed adultery; or, | |||
#one of the spouses treated the other spouse with such mental or physical cruelty that the relationship cannot continue. | |||
It is possible to oppose an application for a divorce order, although this rarely happens. In general, once one of the grounds for marriage breakdown has been established, the courts will allow the divorce application, regardless of any objections raised by the other spouse. | |||
It is possible to oppose an application for a divorce order, although this rarely happens. In general, once one of the grounds for | |||
===Unmarried Spousal Relationships=== | ===Unmarried Spousal Relationships=== | ||
Section 3(1) of the provincial ‘’Family Law Act’’ defines ‘’spouse’’ as including married spouses as well as: | |||
#people who have lived in a “marriage-like relationship” for at least two years; and, | |||
#people who have lived in a “marriage-like relationship” for less than two years and have had a child together. | |||
Unmarried spouses who have lived together for at least two years have all of the same rights and obligations under the ‘’Family Law Act’’ as married spouses. Unmarried spouses who have lived together for less than two years don’t qualify as spouses for the parts of the act that talk about dividing property and debt, but they are spouses for the parts about spousal support and the child support obligations of stepparents. | |||
The federal ‘’Divorce Act’’ doesn’t apply to any unmarried relationship, whether the parties are spouses under provincial law or not. | |||
====Living Together==== | |||
The relationship between unmarried spouses begins on the date they begin to live together in a “marriage-like relationship”. This might be the date that a couple who are dating moves in together, or it might be the date that a relationship between housemates becomes a romantic, committed relationship. | |||
The _______ page talks about when a relationship becomes “marriage-like”. | |||
====Separation==== | |||
Unmarried spouses are separated when they begin to live "separate and apart" from each another, whether under the same roof or in separate homes. Contrary to popular opinion, you do not need to see a lawyer, sign something or file some sort of document in court to obtain a separation. You just need to call it quits and tell your spouse that it's over. | |||
For unmarried spouses, separation is the end of their emotional and legal relationship with each other. Unmarried spouses do not need to get divorced. | |||
===Other Unmarried Relationships=== | |||
The other group of people the ‘’Family Law Act’’ talks about are ‘’parents’’. Parents are defined as the biological parents of a child and people are spouses of a parent. | |||
STOPPED | |||
Under the Family Relations Act, people who meet the definition of spouse or parent may have certain responsibilities, like the obligation to pay child support, and certain rights, like the right to apply for spousal support or the right to be involved in the parenting of a child. Parents and spouses can be of the same or opposite genders. | Under the Family Relations Act, people who meet the definition of spouse or parent may have certain responsibilities, like the obligation to pay child support, and certain rights, like the right to apply for spousal support or the right to be involved in the parenting of a child. Parents and spouses can be of the same or opposite genders. | ||
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When married people break up, they are usually concerned about things like spousal support, the division of the family assets, and how the children will be looked after. Common-law couples and other unmarried couples share many of the same problems. From a legal perspective, the difference between married and unmarried couples is about which laws apply and sometimes how they apply. | When married people break up, they are usually concerned about things like spousal support, the division of the family assets, and how the children will be looked after. Common-law couples and other unmarried couples share many of the same problems. From a legal perspective, the difference between married and unmarried couples is about which laws apply and sometimes how they apply. | ||
Under s. 1(1) of the Family Relations Act, "parent" is defined like this: | Under s. 1(1) of the Family Relations Act, "parent" is defined like this: | ||
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that person has also contributed to the support of the child for a least one year, and | that person has also contributed to the support of the child for a least one year, and | ||
the application for relief under the act is made within one year of the person's contribution to the support of the child. | the application for relief under the act is made within one year of the person's contribution to the support of the child. | ||
===Extended Family Relationships=== | |||
Grandparents, etc. | |||
==Different Rights and Responsibilities== | |||
Unmarried couples can do all of the things married couples can. They can live together, they can have a child together, they can buy a house together, and they can have a relationship that last for decades and looks, in all respects, exactly like a married relationship. Why is there a difference in the way the law treats unmarried couples? | Unmarried couples can do all of the things married couples can. They can live together, they can have a child together, they can buy a house together, and they can have a relationship that last for decades and looks, in all respects, exactly like a married relationship. Why is there a difference in the way the law treats unmarried couples? | ||
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These are the legal rights available to people who are married and common-law spouses, and to people who are neither married nor common-law but have a child together: | These are the legal rights available to people who are married and common-law spouses, and to people who are neither married nor common-law but have a child together: | ||
==A Few Surprisingly Common Misunderstandings== | ==A Few Surprisingly Common Misunderstandings== | ||
