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Family Violence in the Family Law Act and the Divorce Act

168 bytes removed, 22:35, 2 August 2023
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* '''Conditions of parenting time and contact:''' Under section 218, the court may impose terms and conditions on any order it makes. Where family violence is an issue, appropriate terms and conditions might include exchanging the children in a public place, placing restrictions on how the parties are allowed to interact when the children are exchanged, restricting a family member to video or telephone parenting time or contact only, requiring that parenting time or contact only happen in a general or specific public place, or they might say that a party's parenting time or contact will not happen if the party is impaired by drugs or alcohol.
* '''Denial of parenting time:''' Sections 61 and 62 address what happens if one person or guardian denies parenting time or contact set out in a legal agreement or court order to another person or guardian.
** Under section 61, if a the person is being denied parenting time or contact that they are entitled to have with a child under an agreement or order, they can apply to the court within 12 months of having been denied for various remedies such as make-up time, requiring a party or the child to attend counselling or other programs, attend requiring attendance at family dispute resolution, pay requiring a finebe paid, or other remedies.** Under section 62, if a guardian is denying parenting time or contact with a child, the court may decide that the denial was not wrongful. Section 62 sets out that denial is not wrongful if the guardian reasonably believed that : a) the child might suffer family violence if the parenting time or contact with the child were exercised; or b) the applicant was impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time the parenting time or contact with the child was to be exercised. Objective evidence should be provided to the court that supports the reasonableness of the guardian’s belief in these circumstances. There are also other circumstances set out in section 62 under which a court may decide that the denial was not wrongful.** '''Important:''' If a person is concerned that a child may suffer family violence if parenting time or contact is exercised, then they should make an application to court as soon as possible in consideration , consider the bests interests of the child under section 37 and 38 of the Act , and try to change the underlying court order or agreement setting out the on parenting time or contact.
* '''Non-removal orders:''' Under section 64 of the Act, if there is a concern that a person may remove a child from British Columbia and is unlikely to return, a court may make an order that a person not remove a child from a specified geographical area. This can range from a city to the province of British Columbia, for example. This type of order does not apply when a guardian wishes to relocate with a child with notice to the other guardian.
* '''Exclusive occupation of the family residence:''' Under section 90, the court may make temporary orders, and grant one spouse exclusive occupancy of the family residence. This isn't a restraining order, and it does not prohibit the other party from entering the home, but the person with the exclusive occupation order is allowed to live there and the other spouse person is not.
==The ''Divorce Act''==