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Difference between revisions of "Polyamorous Relationships"
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Polyamorous Relationships (view source)
Revision as of 00:31, 28 February 2020
, 00:31, 28 February 2020→Applying family law terminology
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===Applying family law terminology=== | ===Applying family law terminology=== | ||
The federal legislation on marriage and divorce is a good place to start understanding how family law terms like ''spouse'' and ''parent'' apply to people in polyamorous relationships. Section 2 of the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/7w02 Civil Marriage Act]'' defines ''marriage'' as "the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others." If that wasn't | The federal legislation on marriage and divorce is a good place to start understanding how family law terms like ''spouse'' and ''parent'' apply to people in polyamorous relationships. Section 2 of the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/7w02 Civil Marriage Act]'' defines ''marriage'' as "the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others." If that wasn't plain enough, section 2(1) of the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' defines ''spouse'' as "either of two persons who are married to each other." | ||
Legislation like this is | Legislation like this clearly says that marriages involve two people, and two people only. On the other hand, let's look more carefully at the definition of ''spouse'' at section 3 of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'': | ||
<blockquote><tt>(1) A person is a spouse for the purposes of this Act if the person</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(a) is married to another person, or</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(b) has lived with another person in a marriage-like relationship, and</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><tt>(i) has done so for a continuous period of at least 2 years, or</tt></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><tt>(ii) except in Parts 5 and 6, has a child with the other person.</tt></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
We know that "marriage" is out because of the definition in the ''Civil Marriage Act'', but you'll see that the definition of unmarried spouse in section 3(1)(b) doesn't have a number limit attached to it. In Alberta, on the other hand, section 3(1) of the ''Adult Interdependent Relationships Act'' says that an adult interdependent partner includes someone who has lived with someone else in a ''relationship of interdependence''. Section 1(1) of that act offers a definition of that term and says this: | |||
<blockquote><tt>“relationship of interdependence” means a relationship outside marriage in which any 2 persons</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(i) share one another’s lives,</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(ii) are emotionally committed to one another, and</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(iii) function as an economic and domestic unit.</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
And there's that number limit, "2 persons." But that's missing from the British Columbia definition of "spouse" in section 3(1)(b) of the ''Family Law Act''. | |||
==Resources and links== | ==Resources and links== | ||
