Introduction to JP Boyd on Family Law

Welcome to the fourth edition of JP Boyd on Family Law.

Whether you're facing your own family law challenges, supporting others, or seeking a better understanding of how family law works in British Columbia, this resource is tailored for you. In this edition, we delve into the major areas of family law while addressing the evolving landscape of family justice in British Columbia. We begin with an overview, as in previous editions, of how the legal system for family law matters works in this province. This is the focus of much of the discussion in the Getting Started part of this wikibook, and [Introduction to Family Law in British Columbia] is a very high-level overview, followed by some information about the main legislation involved. The chapter on Understanding the Legal System for Family Law Matters rounds out our introduction, introducing you to the courts, the common law system, the role of lawyers, and a new section for this edition which talks about access to family justice.

As in previous editions, we then dive into chapters focused specifically on certain topics: the people and family relationships, separation and divorce topics, alternatives to litigation, litigation, family law agreements, children and parenting after separation, child and spousal support (a chapter for each), property and debt, and finally a close look at family violence. At the end of the wikibook you will find over 50 stand alone articles or guides, all updated, which we use to call our How Do I? section. We now refer to these as Helpful Guides & Common Questions.

I want to point out that this edition came together quite differently than previous ones. It is unique in a couple ways.

The first difference is that I updated most of the chapters myself. Not all, but most of them. In this respect, the fourth edition of JP Boyd on Family Law is more like the first edition, which I had written between 2012 and 2013 when the Family Law Act was about to replace the Family Relations Act, changing family law as we knew it. Before teaming up with Courthouse Libraries BC to use Clicklaw Wikibooks, I had published free family law information on my old BC Family Law Resource website. I reworked the content from my website, revised it painstakingly for the Family Law Act, and released it with Courthouse Libraries BC as the first edition of JP Boyd on Family Law. The wikibook was born, taking physical form as a thick printed book for libraries and simultaneously existing as a website through Clicklaw Wikibooks, accessed by hundreds of thousands annually. At that point, in 2013, the wikibook was still all my own work and writing. One of the major benefits of going with Clicklaw Wikibooks, however, was that it made it possible to invite other family law lawyers to help share the work. As you may know the Clicklaw Wikibooks platform is based on the same technology that powers Wikipedia. This open-source platform is perfect for writing and editing content with a larger group of editors. As soon as the first edition was printed, Courthouse Libraries BC and I were able to recruit other family law lawyers to assist with updating the wikibook. Megan R. Ellis, KC, generously stepped up as the senior editor, and she was indispensable in leading dozens of volunteer editors, assigning them chapters to revise, and ultimately successfully producing two more editions in 2017 and 2019. I cannot overstate how critical Megan's assistance was over those years.

Soon after finishing the third edition of JP Boyd on Family Law in the summer of 2019, we got news that the federal government was planning a major amendment to the Divorce Act to take effect in the summer of 2020. Despite having just finished the third edition of JP Boyd on Family Law, I felt that this major change meant we should try for a fourth edition as soon as possible. It would require revising almost every chapter, so I also thought it would be a good opportunity to step in as the founding author and make sure that the wikibook as a whole still read as if it were written by one person, still offered opinions and recommendations in a plain language manner without lawyer's jargon, and still employed humour to lighten up the subject matter. The volunteer editors we'd relied upon in 2019 had also only just recently finished their work, and since my revisions would mostly address impact of the Divorce Act amendments, and rewrite some pages to streamline the overall tone, it did not make sense to ask other contributors to do more work. We charted out what we expected would be a 2020 edition. What we could not appreciated was that we were on the brink of a global pandemic.

This brings me to the second major difference between this edition and previous ones. It took more than three years longer than initially planned. Some, but not all, of this delay is due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In February 2020, as we mapped out a plan for a summer 2020 edition, amendments to the Family Law Act were announced. These mostly involved family law arbitrations, and were manageable. But once the pandemic struck, and we came under a provincial state of emergency, a huge uncertainty descended over court operations. The Divorce Act amendments were put on hold by lawmakers. For a while everything just froze. Virtual court hearings were not a serious topic of discussion in March 2020. But the public health crisis forced the legal system's hand. Soon after the courthouses shutdown this changed, a flurry of radical changes were made to allow their work to continue. People were suddenly appearing in court from their living rooms. Chief judiciary from the courts, understandably unrehearsed, were inventing rules on the fly that would allow the courts to continue to dispense justice. It all took time to subside to a point where one could say "this is how a hearing is held, and these are the procedures." And the period during 2020, 2021, and even 2022 was not a good time to write a guide on going to court, and commit those words on a printed page.

But as mentioned, the delays for JP Boyd on Family Law were not only because of the pandemic disruptions. The public health crisis coincided with something else, which was a desire, especially within the Provincial Court, to give court participants in family law proceedings a better experience. Aside from the flurry of changes to court process in response to the pandemic, much of which were temporary, there were other, more deliberate, changes that we did not anticipate when we thought we would go the printers in 2020 to deliver this edition. The most significant change we did not foresee in 2019 when we hatched plans for the fourth edition, was the arrival of a totally new set of Provincial Court Family Rules and forms, which took effect on May 17, 2021. And what we cannot ignore now is that these changes to rules and forms, and this experimentation with different types of procedures for different registries, is a signal that the Provincial Court is not quite done.

And this leads me to a third major difference in the fourth edition, which is that we have moved the bulk of our chapter about Resolving Family Law Problems in Court to the website version of this resource. We have had to acknowledge just how dynamic the courts and their legal procedures are at this time. While we want to provide you with the most current and pertinent information about court procedure, we cannot do that by providing information in a print book. The landscape is just too volatile. For this edition, you will see that the Resolving Family Law Problems in Court chapter is much shorter, that the chapter is an overview only, and that readers are directed to the online version of the chapter to get more in-depth information. As a trade off, however, the online version of the chapters about going to court will be updated more readily, and have more detailed discussions about the litigation process in British Columbia's Supreme Court and Provincial Court.

- John-Paul Boyd, KC

Access to family justice

There are a couple other new aspects to this fourth edition of JP Boyd on Family Law. The challenges and opportunities in access to family justice is reflected in this edition's new section on Access to Family Justice. This new section has coverage of barriers to justice and the array of responses from courts, governments, and legal communities. We explore innovative solutions and initiatives that have emerged to tackle these challenges, from alternative dispute resolution methods to legal aid services, and listed some great resources that you should know about.

Family violence and property & debt chapters

This edition pays special attention to the Family Violence chapter, which was revised in consultation with Rise Women's Legal Centre. Additionally, updates to the Family Law Act have prompted important revisions in the Property and Debt in Family Law Matters chapter, ensuring that our readers are well-informed about the latest changes. I want to thank Trudy Hopman for stepping up to help on the property-related updates, and thank Beatrice McCutcheon for her review of the pages on Family Law Agreements.

Your guide through family law in BC

As always, the goal of this resource is to demystify family law and provide practical, understandable guidance. From navigating court procedures to understanding legal rights and alternatives to litigation, JP Boyd on Family Law serves an important purpose in this province. I encourage you to explore the chapters that resonate with your needs and interests.

Please share your thoughts and suggestions at editor@clicklaw.bc.ca.

Thank you for turning to JP Boyd on Family Law as your trusted source for family law information in British Columbia.

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JP Boyd on Family Law © John-Paul Boyd and Courthouse Libraries BC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.