Difference between revisions of "Family Law Act Basics"

#deciding where the child will live;

#deciding how the child will be raised, including making decisions about things like religion, language and culture.

This is useful when a guardian is going to be sick or will be out of town for a period of time and someone else needs to care for the child, or if a child from outside British Columbia will be going to school here and an adult is needed to care for the child.

A parent who is not a guardian does not automatically become the child’s guardian when a guardian dies.  If that parent wants to become the child’s guardian, he or she will have to get a court order.

If a guardian wants to move and the move will have an impact on a 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.

The guardian who objects to the move must show that the move is not in the best interests of the child or the move will be allowed.

''Good faith'' means that the guardian wants to move isn’t planning on moving just to take the child away from another guardian, and that the move will likely improve the child’s quality of life or the guardian’s quality of life.

The courts will have to figure out what "reasonable plans" to preserve the child’s relations with other people means, and what it means to say that a proposed move is or is not in a child’s best interests.

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 will still be supported if the payor dies.

The parties can agree and the court can order that the payor’s obligation to pay child support will continue after the payor’s death and be paid from his or her estate.  Court orders about this can be made at the time the child support order is made or after the payor’s death.

It can sometimes be very difficult to figure out when spousal support should end. The person getting support usually wants support to continue for as long as possible. The person paying support wants support to end as soon as possible. It is hard to settle on an end date if, for example, it’s not known when a spouse will finish job training, become self-sufficient or recover from an illness.  

People often try to avoid this problem by agreeing that spousal support will be paid for now, but that will be reconsidered in the future, called a ''review'', after a certain amount of time has passed or when a certain event has happened.  

#what will trigger the review;

#the dispute resolution process that will be used at the review; and,

#the factors that will be considered at the review.

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 will still be supported if the payor dies.

The parties can agree and the court can order that the payor’s obligation to pay spousal support will continue after the payor’s death and be paid from his or her estate.  Court orders about this can be made at the time the spousal support order is made or after the payor’s death.

#married spouses have to start a court proceeding to divide property and debt within two years of the date of their divorce or the annulment of their marriage; and,

Family debt also includes debt incurred after the date of separation if the debt was incurred for to maintain family property, like repairing the family home or paying the mortgage.

# length of the spouses’ relationship;

The courts will have to figure out what "significantly unfair" means. The old law doesn’t use this term.

Note that the division of pensions can be very, very complicated. It is always best to speak to a lawyer about issues problems with pensions.

Children sometimes get large amounts of money or property from inheritances, insurance policies or court awards. Under the ''Family Law Act'', a child’s guardians are not automatically the trustees of the child’s property, except for property below a certain value or of a certain type that will be decided by regulation.

People can make an agreement that they will resolve a family law problem, or a family law problem that might arise in the future, using a family dispute resolution process.

When mediation is successful, the parties will usually sign a separation agreement to document their settlement. Separation agreements can be filed in court and be enforced like court orders.

Lawyers who have special additional training can help people resolve a family law dispute through collaborative processes. When people agree to use a collaborative process, they and their lawyers sign an agreement that they will use their best efforts to resolve the dispute outside of court, and that if the parties do have to go to court they will hire new lawyers.

Collaborative processes work like negotiation but involve other professionals when their participation will help the parties to reach a settlement:

When a collaborative process is successful, the parties will usually sign a separation agreement to document their settlement. Separation agreements can be filed in court and be enforced like court orders.

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:

Where nothing else will get a party to obey a court order, the court may order that the party be imprisoned for up to 30 days.