Difference between revisions of "Recent Changes to Family Law in British Columbia"

Family law has changed a lot over the past 15 years or so, especially if you live in British Columbia. In 2010, special Supreme Court rules, just for family law cases, were introduced. In 2013, the ''Family Law Act'' replaced the ''Family Relations Act'' and brought in new ways of thinking about parenting after separation, a new test that applies when someone wants to move away after separation, a new scheme for dividing property between spouses, new provisions about parenting coordination, and new tools to help judges to manage court processes. In 2019, the Provincial Court established a pilot project in the Victoria courthouse aimed at the early resolution of family law disputes, complete with a whole new set of court rules just for the pilot project. In 2020, the ''Family Law Act'' was changed to cover the arbitration of family law disputes, in terms very different from those of the old ''Arbitration Act'', and the Victoria pilot project was expanded to include the Surrey courthouse. Of course, 2020 was also the year that the spread of COVID-19 resulted in huge changes to day-to-day court processes.

In 2021, sweeping amendments to the federal ''Divorce Act'' came into effect that changed how we talk about parenting after separation, and introduced a new test for figuring out children's best interests and a new test for when someone wants to move away. Thankfully, for people already used to the ''Family Law Act'', the changes to the ''Divorce Act'' felt very familiar, as if the federal government had simply copied huge swathes from our legislation. However, the changes to the ''Divorce Act'' also resulted in changes to the Child Support Guidelines, changes to the forms used by the Supreme Court, and the introduction of brand new forms used when someone wants to move away (or objects to someone moving away).

This page provides an overview of the other changes that have happened in the last couple of years, including the amendments to the ''Family Law Act'' about arbitration, the new Provincial Court Family Rules and the early resolution pilot project, and the changes to the Child Support Guidelines and the forms used by the Supreme Court resulting from the amendment of the ''Divorce Act''.

<blockquote>'''Enforcing awards:''' Awards are binding on the parties to arn arbitration under section 19.16. Under section 19.20, awards can be filed in court and be enforced by the court as if they were court orders.</blockquote>

==The Provincial Court Pilot Project==

In 2019, the Provincial Court started a new pilot project at the Victoria courthouse, trying out something called an Early Resolution and Case Management Process. This pilot project was extended to the Surrey courthouse in 2020. The project relies on new rules of court and new court forms, and a really good but really long [https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-divorce/divorce/family/options/early-resoution/explain.pdf explanation of the project] can be found on the website of the government of British Columbia.

The pilot project is intended to test new court processes designed to encourage people to resolve family law disputes by agreement, and to help them get just and speedy decisions in court if agreement isn't possible. Cases that do need to be resolved through court are subject to closer management by the court, and the project has developed forms and processes that are easier to access and easier to complete.

This is how government describes the new process in Surrey and Victoria. The process will generally involve:

<blockquote>"Filing a form called the Notice to Resolve at the Victoria Provincial Court Registry.</blockquote>

You can get a lot more information about the pilot project [https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/life-events/divorce/family-justice/your-options/early-resolution/each-step process] and the [https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/justice/courthouse-services/documents-forms-records/court-forms/prov-family-forms new forms] it uses from the provincial government.

{{REVIEWED | reviewer = [[JP Boyd]], February 18, 2021}}