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Difference between revisions of "The New Divorce Act"
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<blockquote>'''Contact''', which refers to the time someone other than a spouse spends with the children.</blockquote> | <blockquote>'''Contact''', which refers to the time someone other than a spouse spends with the children.</blockquote> | ||
It's not just the names of these things that have changed. We have to think about parenting after separation differently too. The changes to the ''Divorce Act'' try to focus attention on the rights of children rather than on the entitlements of their parents. As a result, | It's not just the names of these things that have changed. We have to think about parenting after separation differently too. The changes to the ''Divorce Act'' try to focus attention on the rights of children rather than on the entitlements of their parents. As a result, ''both'' spouses have parenting time with their children, not just one of them, and spouses don't have the right to make important decisions for the children, they have the ''responsibility'' to make those decisions. | ||
====Parenting Orders==== | ====Parenting Orders==== | ||
A | A ''parenting order'' is an order about parenting time and decision-making responsibility. Parenting orders can talk about: | ||
* how parenting time will be divided between spouses, | * how parenting time will be divided between spouses, | ||
* how decision-making responsibilities are divided | * how decision-making responsibilities are shared or divided between spouses, | ||
* how spouses communicate with each other, | * how spouses communicate with each other, | ||
* whether a spouse's time with the children must be supervised, | * whether a spouse's time with the children must be supervised, | ||
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More on relocation in a bit. | More on relocation in a bit. | ||
The ''Divorce Act'' | The ''Divorce Act'' does not contain any presumptions that parenting time should be divided in any particular way, including equally. When the court has to make decisions about parenting time, those decisions must be made considering only the best interests of the child. | ||
Likewise, the ''Divorce Act'' does not contain any presumptions that decision-making responsibilities should be shared in any particular way, including that just one spouse should have all decision-making responsibilities or that both spouses should have all decision-making responsibilities. The court can make orders like that, of course, if the order would be in the best interests of the child. The court can also mix it up a bit and order that only one spouse should have responsibility for making certain decisions, while both spouses are responsible for making other decisions. | |||
A spouse who has parenting time or decision-making responsibility is entitled to make day-to-day decisions about the child during their parenting time without having to consult the other spouse. These decisions include little decisions, like what the child will have for lunch or what the child will wear to school. They also include big decisions in emergencies, like about taking the child to a doctor after an accident. | |||
A spouse who has parenting time or decision-making responsibility is also entitled to ask for and receive information about the child's health, education and wellbeing from anyone who has that information, including doctors, psychologists, teachers and the other spouse. | |||
====Parenting Plans==== | |||
A ''parenting plan'' is the part of a document that talks about parenting time and decision-making responsibility. Most of the time the sort of "document" the ''Divorce Act'' is talking about will be a written agreement, like a separation agreement, about parenting after separation. However, "document" also includes arbitrator's awards and the orders of other courts. | |||
The court is required to include a parenting plan in a parenting order or a contact order unless it thinks that the parenting plan is not in the best interests of the child. | |||
====Contact Orders==== | |||
A ''contact order'' is, not surprisingly, an order that someone other than a spouse have time with a child. However, someone who wants to ask for a contact order must get the court's permission to ask for the order first. Contact orders can talk about: | |||
* when the person can spend time with the children, | |||
* how the person can communicate with the children, and | |||
* whether the person with contact should be prohibited from removing the children without the consent of a spouse. | |||
Contact doesn't include all of the entitlements that go with parenting time. Someone who has contact ''is not'' entitled to make day-to-day decisions about the child during their contact. Likewise, someone who has contact ''is not'' entitled to get information about the child's health, education and wellbeing. | |||
====Older Orders, Awards and Agreements==== | |||
The new ''Divorce Act'' does not cancel orders, awards and agreements that were made before 1 March 2021. Those orders, awards and agreements are still in effect, and are still binding on the parties to those older orders, awards and agreements, but you do have to do a bit of translation. | |||
Parenting time and contact are what the old ''Divorce Act'' meant by "access," except that it's both spouses who have parenting time with a child, not just one of them. Contact is access as well, but refers to the time someone who is not a spouse has with the child. | |||
Decision-making responsibility is sort of what the old act meant by "custody." It's about the rights and responsibilities involved in being the guardian of a child, and making responsible decisions on behalf of a child. Decision-making responsibilities are just like the "parental responsibilities" guardians have under the ''[[Family Law Act]]''. | |||
===The Best Interests of the Child and Family Violence=== | ===The Best Interests of the Child and Family Violence=== | ||