Family Law Act

The Family Law Act

The Family Law Act is a British Columbia law that you can find, along with other provincial laws, at the website of the Queen's Printer or on CanLII, a free website that lets you search Canadian laws and court decisions. A handy, downloadable PDF of the law is also available online through a service called Quickscribe. The Family Law Act covers these basic subjects:

1. the parentage of children;
2. guardianship of children;
3. parental responsibilities;
4. parenting time and contact with children;
5. moving away, with or without children;
6. child support;
7. managing children's property;
8. spousal support;
9. dividing property and debt;
10. orders protecting people; and,
11. orders protecting property.

The Family Law Act applies to married spouses, people who are, or were, married to each other by a marriage commissioner or a religious official licensed to perform marriages, unmarried spouses, people who live, or used to live, together in a romantic relationship, and to people who are the parents of a child together.

Section 3 of the act says who is a spouse:

(1) A person is a spouse for the purposes of this Act if the person

(a) is married to another person, or

(b) has lived with another person in a marriage-like relationship, and

(i) has done so for a continuous period of at least 2 years, or

(ii) except in Parts 5 [Property Division] and 6 [Pension Division], has a child with the other person.

(2) A spouse includes a former spouse.

Section 1 of the act defines a child as "a person who is under 19 years of age." Section 146 expands that definition for the part of the act about child support, and says that "'child' includes a person who is 19 years of age or older and unable, because of illness, disability or another reason, to obtain the necessaries of life or withdraw from the charge of his or her parents or guardians."

to people who are parents, and

and to other people who might have an interest in a child, such as a family member.

Section 1 of the Family Law Act defines a child as someone who is under 19 years of age. Section 146 gives a bigger definition of "child" when making decisions about child support. That section defines child as including:

a person who is 19 years of age or older and unable, because of illness, disability or another reason, to obtain the necessaries of life or withdraw from the charge of his or her parents or guardians

Under Part 3 of the act, a parent is presumed to be the biological father and the birth mother of a child. However, if assisted reproduction is used, parent can include:

• up to two people who intend to have the child,
• a donor of sperm and a donor of an egg,
• a surrogate mother, and
• a spouse of a surrogate mother.

When child support is an issue, parent can include a stepparent. Section 146 defines a stepparent as:

a person who is a spouse of the child's parent and lived with the child's parent and the child during the child's life

Under section 3, spouse includes:

• someone who is married to someone else,
• someone who has lived with someone else in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years,
• except for the parts of the act about dividing property and debt, someone who has lived with someone else in a marriage-like relationship for less than two years if they have had a child together, and
• people who used to be spouses.

Under section 39(1) of the act, a child's guardians are usually the child's parents, as long as they have lived together during the child's life. Under section 39(3), guardians include:

• people who are parents because of an assisted reproduction agreement, and
• parents who never lived with the child and the other parent, as long as the parent "regularly cares" for the child.

Under the act, someone who is a parent or guardian can be required to pay child support. Someone who is a guardian has “parental responsibilities” for the child and has “parenting time” with the child. Someone who is not a guardian, has “contact” with the child.

Someone who is a spouse can be entitled to get spousal support from another spouse. Only spouses who are married or who have lived in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years are entitled to share family property and are responsible for family debt.

The Family Law Act covers these subjects:

• parentage of children and assisted reproduction,
• guardianship of children,
• parental responsibilities and parenting time,
• contact with a child,
• child support and spousal support,
• dividing property and debt,
• children's property,
• orders to protect people, and
• orders to protect property.

JP Boyd on Family Law provides extensive coverage of the Family Law Act, including a chapter on Family Law Act Basics.