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Difference between revisions of "Family Relationships"
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*'''Married spouses:''' People who are married spouses have been wed at a ceremony conducted by someone licensed by the province to perform marriages. Married relationships end when a court makes an order for the spouses’ divorce. | *'''Married spouses:''' People who are married spouses have been wed at a ceremony conducted by someone licensed by the province to perform marriages. Married relationships end when a court makes an order for the spouses’ divorce. | ||
*'''Unmarried spouses:''' People who are unmarried spouses have lived with each other in a marriage-like relationship for a certain minimum amount of time; this is the sort of relationship people mean when they talk about common-law spouses. | *'''Unmarried spouses:''' People who are unmarried spouses have lived with each other in a "marriage-like relationship" for a certain minimum amount of time; this is the sort of relationship people mean when they talk about "common-law spouses." The relationships of unmarried spouses end when they separate. Unmarried spouses do not need to get a divorce. | ||
*'''Unmarried parents:''' Unmarried parents are people who have had a child together but never lived together. Unmarried parents might include people who have helped someone have a child through assisted reproduction, like being an egg donor, a sperm donor, or a surrogate mother, depending on what an assisted reproduction agreement might say about who’s a parent and who’s not. Unmarried parents also include people who were in a dating or casual relationship and have had a child. | *'''Unmarried parents:''' Unmarried parents are people who have had a child together but never lived together. Unmarried parents might include people who have helped someone have a child through assisted reproduction, like being an egg donor, a sperm donor, or a surrogate mother, depending on what an assisted reproduction agreement might say about who’s a parent and who’s not. Unmarried parents also include people who were in a dating or casual relationship and have had a child. | ||
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Unmarried spouses who have lived together for at least two years have all of the same rights and obligations under the ''Family Law Act'' as married spouses. | Unmarried spouses who have lived together for at least two years have all of the same rights and obligations under the ''Family Law Act'' as married spouses. | ||
Unmarried spouses who have lived together for less than two years don't qualify as spouses for the parts of the | Unmarried spouses who have lived together for less than two years don't qualify as spouses for the parts of the act that talk about dividing property and debt, but they are spouses for the parts about spousal support and the child support obligations of stepparents. | ||
The federal ''Divorce Act'' doesn't apply to unmarried relationships, whether the parties are spouses under provincial law or not. | The federal ''Divorce Act'' doesn't apply to unmarried relationships, whether the parties are spouses under provincial law or not. | ||
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===Other unmarried relationships=== | ===Other unmarried relationships=== | ||
The other group of people the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' talks about is ''parents'', and this group is broader than a lot of people might think. | The other group of people the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' talks about is ''parents'', and this group is broader than a lot of people might think. Family law doesn't have much to do with people who are just dating and don't have a child together. | ||
Family law doesn't have much to do with people who are just dating and don't have a child together. | |||
====Parents through natural reproduction==== | ====Parents through natural reproduction==== | ||
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*a surrogate mother ''is a parent'', unless everyone has signed an assisted reproduction agreement that makes her not a parent. | *a surrogate mother ''is a parent'', unless everyone has signed an assisted reproduction agreement that makes her not a parent. | ||
If you do the math, you'll see that under the ''Family Law Act'' a child can have up to five parents. The | If you do the math, you'll see that under the ''Family Law Act'' a child can have up to five parents. The act doesn't discriminate between parents who are intended parents and parents who are donors or surrogate mothers. In for a penny, in for a pound, as the saying goes: a parent under an assisted reproduction agreement is liable to pay child support just like every other parent, but is also presumed to be the guardian of a child under s. 39(3). | ||
===Caregivers and extended family relationships=== | ===Caregivers and extended family relationships=== | ||
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This kind of legal relationship plays out in one of two ways. Where a child's parents are doing a good enough job, an extended family member might want ''contact'' with the child, if time with the child is being withheld. Section 59(2) of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' says this: | This kind of legal relationship plays out in one of two ways. Where a child's parents are doing a good enough job, an extended family member might want ''contact'' with the child, if time with the child is being withheld. Section 59(2) of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' says this: | ||
<blockquote><tt>A court may grant contact to any person who is not a guardian, including, without limiting the meaning of "person" in any other provision of this | <blockquote><tt>A court may grant contact to any person who is not a guardian, including, without limiting the meaning of "person" in any other provision of this Act or a regulation made under it, to a parent or grandparent.</tt></blockquote> | ||
Where a child's guardians are no longer in the picture or if there's a concern about the child's welfare with | Where a child's guardians are no longer in the picture or if there's a concern about the child's welfare with his or her guardians, an extended family member might also apply for ''guardianship'' of the child. Section 51(1)(a) merely says that the court may appoint "a person" as a child's guardian, and an extended family member is certainly a person. | ||
==Different rights and responsibilities== | ==Different rights and responsibilities== | ||
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*apply for ''protection orders'' if they feel they are at risk of family violence. | *apply for ''protection orders'' if they feel they are at risk of family violence. | ||
Although unmarried spouses who have lived together for less than two years are cut out of the part of the | Although unmarried spouses who have lived together for less than two years are cut out of the part of the act that deals with property and debt, they still share in property they jointly own and they can make claims to property owned only by one spouse under the law of trusts and the law of equity. These claims are discussed in the introductory section of the [[Property_%26_Debt_in_Family_Law_Matters|Property & Debt]] chapter. | ||
===Other unmarried relationships=== | ===Other unmarried relationships=== | ||
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Las Vegas marriages and other sorts of quickie marriages are valid and binding marriages, as long as the marriages meet the criteria for valid marriages, discussed in the next section. If you want to undo the marriage, you'll have to get divorced just like every other person in a valid marriage, and that will usually mean waiting until one year has passed since your separation. An alcohol-induced Las Vegas marriage was upheld in the very funny 2005 Supreme Court case of ''[http://canlii.ca/t/1q47l Davison v. Sweeney]'', 2005 BCSC 757, simply because the spouses knew what they were doing when they married, despite the fact that they had never had sex and separated two days after the marriage, when their respective holidays ended. | Las Vegas marriages and other sorts of quickie marriages are valid and binding marriages, as long as the marriages meet the criteria for valid marriages, discussed in the next section. If you want to undo the marriage, you'll have to get divorced just like every other person in a valid marriage, and that will usually mean waiting until one year has passed since your separation. An alcohol-induced Las Vegas marriage was upheld in the very funny 2005 Supreme Court case of ''[http://canlii.ca/t/1q47l Davison v. Sweeney]'', 2005 BCSC 757, simply because the spouses knew what they were doing when they married, despite the fact that they had never had sex and separated two days after the marriage, when their respective holidays ended. | ||
====Separation and the | ====Separation and the "legal separation"==== | ||
There is no such thing as a | There is no such thing as a "legal separation" in British Columbia, nor is it possible to be "legally separated." Whether you're in an unmarried relationship or a marriage, you are separated the moment you decide that the relationship is over. That's it, there's no magic to it. When you or your partner announces that the relationship is over and there's no chance of getting back together, boom, you're separated. Congratulations. | ||
To be crystal clear: | To be crystal clear: | ||
*you do not need to file for separation to be separated, in fact, there's no such thing in British Columbia as filing for separation, despite what you might see on the websites of the people who sell do-it-yourself legal kits, | *you do not need to "file for separation" to be separated, in fact, there's no such thing in British Columbia as "filing for separation," despite what you might see on the websites of the people who sell do-it-yourself legal kits, | ||
*there are no court documents or other papers you have to sign to be separated, and | *there are no court documents or other papers you have to sign to be separated, and | ||
*you don't need to appear before a judge, lawyer, shaman or anyone else to be separated. | *you don't need to appear before a judge, lawyer, shaman or anyone else to be separated. | ||
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The fact that a married couple is separated isn't enough to let a separated spouse remarry. You must be formally divorced by an order of the court in order to remarry. If you remarry without being divorced from the first marriage, the new marriage will be invalid. | The fact that a married couple is separated isn't enough to let a separated spouse remarry. You must be formally divorced by an order of the court in order to remarry. If you remarry without being divorced from the first marriage, the new marriage will be invalid. | ||
On the other hand, the fact that you're separated won't stop you from having a new relationship, including a new relationship that would qualify as a spousal relationship. Technically, this is adultery, but no one except the Pope or your in-laws | On the other hand, the fact that you're separated won't stop you from having a new relationship, including a new relationship that would qualify as a spousal relationship. Technically, this is adultery, but no one except the Pope or your in-laws is likely to care. There's a lot more information about new relationships after separation in this chapter's section on [[Separation]]. | ||
====Divorce and getting divorced==== | ====Divorce and getting divorced==== | ||
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===Adoption=== | ===Adoption=== | ||
Adoption is a Court process under the "[http://canlii.ca/t/84g5 Adoption Act]" which makes a non-biological parent of a child into | Adoption is a Court process under the "[http://canlii.ca/t/84g5 Adoption Act]" which makes a non-biological parent of a child into his/her legal parent. That means they suddenly have all the rights and obligation of the child’s parent. If a biological parent is not expressly kept as a parent during this process, they no longer have any parental rights or obligations after an Adoption Order is made by the Supreme Court of BC. This means they don’t pay support, and the child is no longer entitled to inherit from them. They may be able to continue to have ‘access’ to have some sort of relationship with the child if either the Adoption Order, or some other Order made later, allows this. The child can inherit from the adopting parent once the Order is made. If the new parenting relationship breaks down, the adopting parent can claim the same rights as a biological parent to have the child reside with them, participate in parenting decisions, and to receive or pay child support. If this happens, disputes are handled in the same way as for biological parents, using the "[http://canlii.ca/t/7vbw Divorce Act]" or "[http://canlii.ca/t/8q3k Family Law Act]". | ||
===Assisted Reproduction=== | ===Assisted Reproduction=== | ||
Assisted reproduction is a term that applies to an array of methods of having a baby in ways other than the traditional method. Examples include situations where | Assisted reproduction is a term that applies to an array of methods of having a baby in ways other than the traditional method. Examples include situations where there is only one parent who wishes to have a child, if one partner is incapable of having children, if same-sex partners wish to have a child or if a couple wish to include another person as the parent of their child. The methods include egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy. | ||
The methods include egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy. | |||
==Resources and links== | ==Resources and links== | ||