Difference between revisions of "Family Law Act Basics"

The provincial ''Family Law Act'' is the primary legislation on family law issues in British Columbia. It applies to married spouses, unmarried spouses, people in other unmarried relationships and to people who have an interest in children, like a family member. It talks about the care of children after separation and about how guardians are appointed. It also deals with financial issues like child support, spousal support and the division of property and debt, and with family violence, court processes and ways of resolving family law problems without going to court.

This page provides a stem to stern overview of the ''Family Law Act.'' It is primarily written for justice system workers and legal advocates, but can be used by anybody.

The ''Family Law Act'' is the main law on family breakdown in British Columbia. Although there is also the federal ''Divorce Act'', the ''Divorce Act'' only applies to married spouses. The ''Family Law Act'' applies to everyone in a family relationship in British Columbia, including people who:

#are married spouses;

#are in unmarried spousal relationships;

#are dating, or maybe didn’t date at all, but have a child together;

#want guardianship of someone else’s child; and,

#want contact with someone else’s child.

#are at risk of family violence;

#are having a child through artificial reproduction; and,

#want to manage a child’s property.  

The ''Family Law Act'' doesn’t change the ''Divorce Act''. The ''Divorce Act'' still also applies to married spouses.

The ''Family Law Act'' tries to change how people solve family law problems. The law:

#encourages people to find solutions outside of court;

#promotes negotiation, mediation, collaborative settlement processes and arbitration;

#makes financial disclosure mandatory, even outside of court;

#makes family law agreements more difficult to change; and,

#promotes the use of parenting coordinators, when there is a final agreement or order about the care of children.

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

#protect people who are at risk of family violence;

#enforce court orders and agreements; and,

#manage court processes and manage the behaviour of people in court.

The ''Family Law Act'' talks about all of the things covered by the old ''Family Relations Act'' as well as a lot of new things. The ''Family Law Act'' deals with:

#family violence and protecting adults and children from violence;

#determining who is a child’s parent;

#having children through artificial reproduction;

#who is the guardian of a child, and how guardians are appointed and removed;

#how guardians share responsibility for the care of children;

#the time someone has with a child who isn’t the child’s guardian;

#what happens when a guardian wants to move, including with a child;

#enforcing time with a child provided under an order or an agreement;

#paying child support and how child support is calculated;

#paying spousal support;

#preserving property so that it can be divided;

#dividing property and dividing responsibility for debt; and,

#managing children’s property.

==The Law About Children==

The ''Family Law Act'' says that parents, judges and other decision-makers must make decisions about children considering only the children’s best interests and nothing else.

#the child’s health and emotional well-being;

#the views of the child, unless it wouldn’t be appropriate to consider them;

#the history of the child’s care and the child’s need for stability;

#the child’s relationships with other important people;

#any court proceedings that are relevant to the child’s safety and well-being; and,

#the impact of any family violence.

The ''Family Law Act'' also says that an agreement or order is presumed not to be in the best interests of a child unless it protects the child’s safety and well-being to the greatest extent possible.

Under s. 211 of the ''Family Law Act'', the court can order that a family justice counsellor, a social worker or another person, like a clinical counsellor or a psychologist, assess:

#the needs of a child;

#the views of a child; and,

#the ability of a person to meet the child’s needs.

These assessments replace reports made under s. 15 of the ''Family Relations Act''.

Under the ''Family Law Act'', a child’s parents are the child’s birth mother and biological father. If the court is not sure who the child’s father is, the court can order medical tests to determine who the father is.

The ''Family Law Act'' lets people make agreements when they have a child through artificial reproduction. These agreements can say who is a parent and who isn’t. They can say that a donor of eggs or sperm is a parent, or that a surrogate mother isn’t a parent.

Under the ''Family Law Act'', a child can have more than two parents. The courts <span class="noglossary">will</span> have to figure out how child support <span class="noglossary">will</span> work in situations like this.

The ''Family Law Act'' describes the people who are responsible for caring for a child as ''guardians''. A child can have one guardian, two guardians or more than two guardians.

#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 "regularly cares" for the child; or,

#the parent is a parent because of an artificial reproduction agreement.

The different ways that guardians care for a child and the decisions guardians have to make are called ''parental responsibilities.'' Parental responsibilities are listed at s. 41 of the ''Family Law Act'' and include:

#making decisions about the day to day care of the child;

#deciding where the child <span class="noglossary">will</span> live;

#making decisions about the child’s schooling and extracurricular activities;

#making decisions about the child’s health care; and,

#deciding how the child <span class="noglossary">will</span> be raised, including making decisions about things like religion, language and culture.

#make decisions about the day to day care of the child;

#make decisions about the child’s schooling and extracurricular activities;

#make decisions about the child’s health care; and,

#give or withhold permission on behalf of a child, like about going on a school field trip or having a medical treatment.