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====Child support for stepchildren==== | ====Child support for stepchildren==== | ||
Stepparents can be required to pay child support for the benefit of their stepchildren. However, | Stepparents can be required to pay child support for the benefit of their stepchildren. However, section 146 of the ''Family Law Act'' defines a ''stepparent'' as someone who is "a spouse of the child's parent." As a result, someone in an unmarried relationship that doesn't qualify as a spousal relationship cannot be made to pay child support for the other person's children from a previous relationship. | ||
====Family property and family debt==== | ====Family property and family debt==== | ||
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===Child support=== | ===Child support=== | ||
Child support is payable by anyone who is the parent of a child, regardless of the nature or brevity of the relationship that produced the child. The ''Family Law Act'' says, at | Child support is payable by anyone who is the parent of a child, regardless of the nature or brevity of the relationship that produced the child. The ''Family Law Act'' says, at section 147, that "each parent" has a duty to provide support for their child. | ||
Under | Under section 150(1) of the act, child support is to be paid in the amount determined under the [[Child Support Guidelines]]. As a result, all of the provisions of the Guidelines apply to unmarried parents, including: | ||
*the tables that are used to calculate the amount of child support payable, | *the tables that are used to calculate the amount of child support payable, | ||
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===The care of children=== | ===The care of children=== | ||
Under | Under section 40(1) of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'', only people who are the guardians of a child have ''parental responsibilities'' and ''parenting time'' in relation to that child. People who are not the guardians of a child may have ''contact'' with the child but do not have the right to participate in making decisions about the raising of the child or the right to get information from the important people involved in the child's life, such as doctors, teachers, counsellors, coaches, and so on. | ||
Under | Under section 39, the people who are presumed to be the guardians of a child are: | ||
*the child's parents, as long as they lived together, | *the child's parents, as long as they lived together, | ||
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*must settle for having contact with the child and not being able to participate in parenting the child, | *must settle for having contact with the child and not being able to participate in parenting the child, | ||
*must prove that they ''regularly care'' for the child, in <span class="noglossary">order</span> to be recognized as a guardian of the child who is entitled to participate in parenting the child, or | *must prove that they ''regularly care'' for the child, in <span class="noglossary">order</span> to be recognized as a guardian of the child who is entitled to participate in parenting the child, or | ||
*must apply to be appointed as the guardian of a child under | *must apply to be appointed as the guardian of a child under section 51 of the ''Family Law Act''. | ||
Applications for appointment as guardian are difficult, as the person who is making the application must provide a special kind of affidavit that talks about the children who are and have been in the person's care, any civil or criminal court proceedings that might impact on the safety of a child, and any history of involvement with the Ministry for Children and Family Development. The person must also provide recent MCFD and police records checks. Applications for appointment as a guardian are discussed in more detail in the [[Guardianship,_Parenting_Arrangements_and_Contact|Guardianship, Parenting Arrangements and Contact]] section of the [[Children]] chapter, under the heading "[[Guardianship,_Parenting_Arrangements_and_Contact#Being_a_guardian_and_becoming_a_guardian|Being a guardian and becoming a guardian]]." | Applications for appointment as guardian are difficult, as the person who is making the application must provide a special kind of affidavit that talks about the children who are and have been in the person's care, any civil or criminal court proceedings that might impact on the safety of a child, and any history of involvement with the Ministry for Children and Family Development. The person must also provide recent MCFD and police records checks. Applications for appointment as a guardian are discussed in more detail in the [[Guardianship,_Parenting_Arrangements_and_Contact|Guardianship, Parenting Arrangements and Contact]] section of the [[Children]] chapter, under the heading "[[Guardianship,_Parenting_Arrangements_and_Contact#Being_a_guardian_and_becoming_a_guardian|Being a guardian and becoming a guardian]]." |