Difference between revisions of "Introduction to Family Law in British Columbia"

When a couple breaks up, they sometimes have to decide how property should be divided, how a child will be cared for, and whether someone needs some extra money to help pay the bills. Family law, also called divorce law, is the area of the law that deals with problems like these.

There are two main laws that apply to family law problems. A law, in this sense of the word, means a rule made by the government. These laws are the federal ''[[Divorce Act]]'' and the provincial ''[[Family Law Act]]''. Each law deals with different issues, although they share a lot of issues in common. For some couples, both laws will apply; for others, only one of these laws will apply, probably the ''Family Law Act''.

The sorts of problems a couple can have when their relationship ends include deciding how the children will be cared for, whether support should be paid, and who will keep what property.

#''custody'' and ''parenting time'', which include deciding where the children will live for most of the time;

#''custody'' and ''parental responsibilities'', which include deciding how the parents will make decisions about important things in the children's lives, about issues like health care and education; and,

#''parenting time'', ''contact'' and ''access'', which are about deciding how much time each parent will have with the children.

When a couple have property, sometimes including when only one person has property, they have to decide if and how that property will be shared between them. In family law, the property married spouses and unmarried spouses share is called ''family property''. Family property can include things like houses, bank accounts and cars. It can also include RRSPs and pensions.

Sometimes a couple also has to decide who will take responsibility for debts. Generally, only the debts that accumulated during a relationship will be shared between married spouses and unmarried spouses.

All of these family law problems will be discussed in more detail later on.

#Unmarried Couples: An unmarried couple probably think of themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend. They may have lived together, but not for too long. Sometimes an unmarried couple involved in a family law problem will have been together only for a very short while... perhaps just long enough to make a baby.

There are three things that parents must decide when their relationship ends: where the children will mostly live; how the parents will make decisions about the important events in the children's lives; and, how much time each parent will have with the children.

Parental responsibilities are all about parenting. They include making decisions about where the children go to school, how they are treated when they get sick, whether they will play sports or take music lessons, and about the religion they will be taught. Parental responsibilities can be shared between guardians or divided between them, so that only on guardian can make decisions about a particular parenting issue. When more than one guardian share a parental responsibility, the guardians must try to work together to make decisions about that issue.

There are three reasons why a court will make a divorce order:

Cohabitation agreements and marriage agreements are for couples who are just starting a relationship. These sorts of agreements can talk about how the relationship will be managed (who will pay the bills, will there be a joint bank account or a joint credit card, or who will do what parts of the housework), but most often they talk about what will happen if the relationship ends. These agreements are usually meant to stop a couple from fighting after a relationship ends by setting out who will get what right from the start.

Separation agreements are made after a relationship has ended. They set out how a couple has agreed to deal with things like the care of children, child support and spousal support, and how the family assets will be shared. Separation agreements don't have to cover all the family law problems a couple has. They can deal with just some of those problems and leave the rest for the court to decide.

No matter what kind of family law agreement you have signed, you both expect that each of you will follow the agreement, and that the court will enforce the agreement if you don't follow the agreement. The court will generally respect an agreement that a couple willingly signed, as long as the agreement was fair and neither person misled the other person about something important, like money or property.

While arranged marriages are fairly common, the parties must agree to the marriage of their own free will. There is no law that allows someone to be forced to marry someone else. An agreement between relatives about the marriage is not legally binding on the people who are supposed to be married.

When one spouse sponsors another spouse to come to Canada, that person will usually sign a "sponsorship agreement" with the government. That agreement requires the sponsor to support the person coming to Canada, whether they stay married or separate or divorce. This agreement is only binding between the sponsor and the government. If the person coming to Canada needs spousal support, for example, he or she will have ask the court for an order that spousal support be paid.

Separation does not automatically mean that someone new to Canada will have to leave the country. People who are permanent residents, for example, will be allowed to stay, regardless of what is happening in their relationship with their sponsors. You should, however, speak to an immigration lawyer just to be sure.

In Canada you must have a court order to divorce and legally end a marriage. Religious divorces are not recognized in Canada. The decisions of religious tribunals about how a separated couple will share their assets or manage the care and control of their children are not recognized in British Columbia.