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Difference between revisions of "Guardianship, Parenting Arrangements and Contact"
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Guardianship, Parenting Arrangements and Contact (view source)
Revision as of 19:53, 10 March 2013
, 19:53, 10 March 2013→Parental Responsibiities and Parenting Time
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Parents and other people can also be made a guardian if they have been appointed by a guardian as a ''standby guardian'' under s. 55 of the ''Family Law Act'' or as a ''testamentary guardian'' under s. 53 of the act. Guardians who have been appointed in this way don't need to make an application under s. 51 and don't need to worry about filing the special affidavit or getting records checks done. | Parents and other people can also be made a guardian if they have been appointed by a guardian as a ''standby guardian'' under s. 55 of the ''Family Law Act'' or as a ''testamentary guardian'' under s. 53 of the act. Guardians who have been appointed in this way don't need to make an application under s. 51 and don't need to worry about filing the special affidavit or getting records checks done. | ||
==Parental | ==Parental Responsibilities and Parenting Time== | ||
People who are guardians | People who are the guardians of a child have ''parental responsibilities'' in respect of that child and their time with the child is called ''parenting time''. Section 40 of the ''Family Law Act'' talks about who has parental responsibilities and parenting time and how they are shared: | ||
<blockquote><tt>(1) Only a guardian may have parental responsibilities and parenting time with respect to a child.</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(2) Unless an agreement or order allocates parental responsibilities differently, each child's guardian may exercise all parental responsibilities with respect to the child in consultation with the child's other guardians, unless consultation would be unreasonable or inappropriate in the circumstances.</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(3) Parental responsibilities may be allocated under an agreement or order such that they may be exercised by</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(a) one or more guardians only, or</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(b) each guardian acting separately or all guardians acting together.</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(4) In the making of parenting arrangements, no particular arrangement is presumed to be in the best interests of the child and without limiting that, the following must not be presumed:</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(a) that parental responsibilities should be allocated equally among guardians;</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(b) that parenting time should be shared equally among guardians;</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(c) that decisions among guardians should be made separately or together.</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
This section says a few important things. First, guardians are presumed to exercise all parental responsibilities until an order or agreement says otherwise, and guardians are required to consult with each other in the exercise of these responsibilities. Second, if you do have an order or agreement, the order or agreement can require guardians to share certain parental responsibilities or divide them so that a particular responsibility will only be exercised by one or more guardians acting on their own. Third, the court must not make any assumptions about how parental responsibilities and parenting time are to be divided. | |||
Parental responsibilities are listed at s. 41: | |||
<blockquote><tt>(a) making day-to-day decisions affecting the child and having day-to-day care, control and supervision of the child;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(b) making decisions respecting where the child will reside;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(c) making decisions respecting with whom the child will live and associate;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(d) making decisions respecting the child's education and participation in extracurricular activities, including the nature, extent and location;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(e) making decisions respecting the child's cultural, linguistic, religious and spiritual upbringing and heritage, including, if the child is an aboriginal child, the child's aboriginal identity;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(f) subject to section 17 of the Infants Act, giving, refusing or withdrawing consent to medical, dental and other health-related treatments for the child;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(g) applying for a passport, licence, permit, benefit, privilege or other thing for the child;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(h) giving, refusing or withdrawing consent for the child, if consent is required;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(i) receiving and responding to any notice that a parent or guardian is entitled or required by law to receive;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(j) requesting and receiving from third parties health, education or other information respecting the child;</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(k) subject to any applicable provincial legislation,</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(i) starting, defending, compromising or settling any proceeding relating to the child, and</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(ii) identifying, advancing and protecting the child's legal and financial interests;</tt></blockquote></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(l) exercising any other responsibilities reasonably necessary to nurture the child's development.</tt></blockquote> | |||
This list is not a closed list. If there's something important to the child that's not listed in (a) to (k), you can probably have the issue addressed under (l). Note also that guardians are required, under s. 43(1), to always exercise their parental responsibilities in the best interests of the child. | |||
The ''Family Law Act'' deals with parenting time very briefly. Section 42 says this: | |||
<blockquote><tt>(1) For the purposes of this Part, parenting time is the time that a child is with a guardian, as allocated under an agreement or order.</tt></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote><tt>(2) During parenting time, a guardian may exercise, subject to an agreement or order that provides otherwise, the parental responsibility of making day-to-day decisions affecting the child and having day-to-day care, control and supervision of the child.</tt></blockquote> | |||
==Contact== | ==Contact== | ||
