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 made 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 provides a very high-level overview, followed by some information about the main legislation. 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 includes 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: people and family relationships, separation and divorce, alternatives to going to court, going to court, family law agreements, children and parenting after separation, child and spousal support, property and debt, and family violence. At the end of the wikibook you will find over 50 stand-alone articles or guides, all updated, which we used to call our How Do I? section and now refer to as Helpful Guides & Common Questions.

I want to point out that this edition came together quite differently than previous editions. It's unique in a couple of 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 create the wikibook, I had published free family law information on my old BC Family Law Resource website. I reworked the content from that website, painstakingly revised it 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 of people every year. 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 load. As you might have noticed, 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 was indispensable in managing 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 overhaul of 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. Since this would require revising almost every chapter, I thought it would be a good opportunity to step in, as the founding author, and give everything a once-over, from start to finish. The volunteer editors we'd relied upon in 2019 had only just recently finished their work, and, because my revisions would mostly be aimed at the Divorce Act amendments, it didn't make much sense to ask our contributors to do even more work.

And so we charted out what we thought would be a new 2020 edition, right on the heels of the 2019 edition. What we didn't know 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, though not all, of this delay is due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But in February 2020, as we mapped out a plan for a next edition, amendments to the Family Law Act were announced. These mostly involved family law arbitration, and were manageable. That wasn't the end of it. Once the pandemic struck and we came under a provincial state of emergency, a huge amount of 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 before March 2020, but the public health crisis forced the legal system's hand, and a flurry of radical changes were made so the courts could continue to operate. People were suddenly appearing in court from their living rooms. Our chief judges, understandably unrehearsed, were developing rules on the fly. It took a lot of time to get to the point where anyone could say "this is how a hearing is held, and these are the procedures." The period during 2020, 2021, and even 2022 was not a good time to write a guide on going to court.

The public health crisis coincided with something else, a desire, especially within the Provincial Court, to give court participants in family law proceedings a better experience. Most of the changes in response to the pandemic were temporary. But there were other, more deliberate, changes to court processes that we could not have anticipated when we were planning the 2020 edition. We certainly didn't expect the totally new set of Provincial Court family rules and forms that took effect on 17 May 2021. And it's clear that the Provincial Court isn't quite done experimenting with different types of procedures a different registries.

This leads me to a third major difference in this edition, which is that we have left the bulk of our chapter Resolving Family Law Problems in Court to the website version of this resource. In light of the changes to date and those that are yet to come, it seemed unwise to provide a book with information that is very likely to be out of date by the time we get it back from the printer. For this edition, you'll see that the Resolving Family Law Problems in Court chapter is much shorter, providing only an overview with directions to the online version of the chapter to get more information. It's so much easier and quicker to update information on the website, and that's where you'll find more detailed information about processes in the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court.

- John-Paul Boyd, KC

Access to family justice

There are a couple other changes to this fourth edition of JP Boyd on Family Law. The challenges and opportunities in access to family justice are discussed in a new section on Access to Family Justice. We talk about the 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

We have also paid special attention to the Family Violence chapter, which has been 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 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 help. 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 fit 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.