Difference between revisions of "Family Law Act Basics"

===How are family law problems resolved under the ''Family Law Act''?===

When people have to go to court, however, the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' gives the court new ways to:

*managing children’s property.

==The law about children==

*the court makes an order that the parent is a guardian,

*the parent and the child’s other guardians make an agreement that the parent is a guardian,

*the parent is a parent because of an assisted reproduction agreement.

The court can make an order that someone who isn’t a parent is the guardian of a child. The court can also make an order that someone who is a guardian is no longer a guardian. Both the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court can make orders about guardianship.

===What are parental responsibilities?===

===What happens if a guardian can’t exercise parental responsibilities?===

*make decisions about the day-to-day care of the child,

The new person takes over as guardian when the first guardian dies or becomes unable to exercise parental responsibilities.

===What's the different between parenting time and contact?===

Agreements about parenting time and contact can be made by the child’s guardians. The court can make orders about parenting time and contact.  Both the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court can make orders about parenting time and contact.

Remember that only guardians have parenting time. Everyone else has contact with a child.

The ''Family Law Act'' gives the court the power to enforce parenting time and contact when:

*the guardian with the child believes there is a risk of family violence, or that the other person is impaired by alcohol or drugs,

*the child is sick, and the guardian with the child has a doctor’s note,

*the other person told the guardian ahead of time that the parenting time or contact wasn’t going to be used.

If a guardian wants to move, with or without a child, and the move <span class="noglossary">will</span> have an impact on the child’s relationship with another guardian or someone who has contact with the child, the guardian must usually give 60 days’ notice of the move, in writing. The notice must say where the guardian plans on moving to and when the guardian plans on moving. See the discussion on relocation in the page on [[Changing_Family_Law_Orders_and_Agreements_Involving_Children#Relocating_with_or_without_a_child | Changing Family Law Orders and Agreements Involving Children]] for more information.

When a guardian objects, the guardian who wants to move must show the court that:

The guardian who objects to the move must then show that the move is not in the best interests of the child or the move <span class="noglossary">will</span> be allowed.

When a guardian objects and the moving guardian and the objecting guardian share the child’s time equally or almost equally, the guardian who wants to move must show the court that:

*the move is in the child’s best interests.

===Who is required to pay child support?===

In certain circumstances, stepparents can also be required to pay child support. A ''stepparent'' is the married or unmarried spouse of a parent, as long as:

The ''Family Law Act'' doesn’t change how any of these problems are handled. What the ''Family Law Act'' does change is the calculation of child support for guardians who are not parents and for stepparents. Under the act, the child support obligations of guardians who are not parents come second to the obligations of parents. The child support obligations of stepparents come second to both parents and guardians, and the amount of support a stepparent should pay is based on:

*the length of time the child lived with the stepparent.

If the payor has a life insurance policy, the parties can agree and the court can order that the payor keep the policy up to date and name a person, usually the recipient, as the beneficiary of the policy. This way, the child <span class="noglossary">will</span> still be supported if the payor dies.

==The law about spousal support==

*are married to each other or used to be married to each other,

*have lived together in a marriage-like relationship for less than two years and have had a child together.

A spouse’s entitlement to spousal support is determined based on factors taken from the ''[[Divorce Act]]'', set out at s. 161 of the ''Family Law Act''.

===When do claims for spousal support have to be made?===

There are tax consequences when spousal support is paid on a regular, repeating basis. Spousal support is tax neutral when it is paid as a single lump sum.

Remember that taxes should be taken into account when figuring out spousal support. At a minimum, recipients should be reminded to put some money aside to pay their taxes.

If the payor has a life insurance policy, the parties can agree and the court can order that the payor keep the policy up to date and name a person, usually the recipient, as the beneficiary of the policy. This way, the spouse <span class="noglossary">will</span> still be supported if the payor dies.

Note that the rules about life insurance and support when the payor dies are the same for spousal support as they are for child support.

====Excluded property====

The court can divide a spouse’s excluded property if:

*in the case of children, being exposed to family violence.

===What are the duties of professionals?===

====Applying for a protection orders====

Applications for protection orders can be made without notice to anyone else, and may be made whether there is an existing court proceeding or not.

====Duties of parties making agreements====

*a spouse did not make full disclosure of financial information, or

Starting a court proceeding in one court doesn’t stop an proceeding being started in the other court, unless the claims made in the second proceeding have already been dealt with by the first court. Section 194 of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' talks about what happens when there is a proceeding in each court:

The Supreme Court can change a Provincial Court order to accommodate an order it is making. The Supreme Court cannot otherwise change Provincial Court orders except as the result of an appeal.

If a party is frustrating or misusing the court process, the court can make an order prohibiting the party from making further applications without permission under s. 221. When making such orders, the court can also:

====Conduct orders====

Under s. 222 of the '[[Family Law Act]]'', the court may make a ''conduct order'' to:

Conduct orders include orders:

Note that conduct orders restricting communication can also be made as protection orders.

Conduct orders include ''case management orders''. Case management orders include orders:

===How are orders enforced?===

Some orders, like orders about parenting time and contact, have their own enforcement procedures. Where an order under the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' doesn't have a specific enforcement procedure, the general enforcement provisions of the act are used. Under s. 230, the court may enforce an order by requiring a party to:

Where nothing else <span class="noglossary">will</span> get a party to obey a court order, the court may order that the party be imprisoned for up to 30 days.