Difference between revisions of "Changing Family Law Orders, Awards and Agreements Involving Spousal Support"

It is not always very easy to change an order that was made outside the province because the courts of our province must give a high amount of respect to the jurisdiction of the court that made the original order. There a bunch of other reasons why it can be hard to change an order made outside of British Columbia, but that's the meat of it.

The process that will apply depends entirely on whether the original order was made under the federal Divorce Act or under the family law legislation of the jurisdiction whose court made the original order.

===Divorce Act Orders===

Orders that were made elsewhere in Canada under the federal Divorce Act can be changed here under s. 5 of the act, as long as both parties live in British Columbia. Where one party still lives in the province whose courts made the original order, a party living in BC can apply to change the original order using a process described in ss. 18 and 19 of the act:

the applicant applies here for a "provisional" order changing the original order;

the court sends the provisional order to the jursidiction that made the original order; and,

on notice to the other party, the original court holds a hearing to "confirm" the provisional order.

This process requires two hearings: one here in British Columbia for a provisional order, and a second in the original court to confirm that order. The court in the other province may or may not confirm the provisional order, and may chose to send the order back to BC for more information. Until the provisional order is confirmed, it has no effect and the original order will continue to be the operative order.

Orders that were made elsewhere in Canada under provincial family law legislation, or were made in certain countries other than Canada, can be changed by someone living in British Columbia using the provincial Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act. Governments that have agreed to following this process under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act are called "reciprocating jurisdictions."

The countries that will cooperate with a proceeding under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act are: South Africa, Zimbabe, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Gibraltar, Norway, the Slovak Republic, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Barbados.

the applicant completes a bunch of forms provided by the provincial Reciprocals Office;

our Reciprocals Office sends the forms to the court that made the original order; and,

on notice of the other party, the original court holds a hearing on the applicant's application and may make an order varying the original order.

Under this process, there is only one hearing which is held by the court that made the original order. The court in the reciprocating jurisdiction may or may not make the order that the applicant wants, and may send the application back to British Columbia for more information. The original order will continue in effect until the court in the reciprocating jurisdiction varies it.

This new process is intended to simplify things, by having just the one hearing. To do that, however, the process relies very heavily on paperwork and the officials of our government and the government of the reciprocating jurisdiction. As a result, applications under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act can take a long time to process.

The British Columbia Reciprocals Office, along with the forms required by the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act, can be found at www.isoforms.bc.ca.

To vary an order of a country that does not participate in Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act applications, you will have to apply to vary the order in that country.