The ''Divorce Act'' is a federal law that you can find, along with other federal laws, on the website of the federal [http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/D-3.4/page-1.html Department of Justice], or on [http://canlii.ca/t/7vbw CanLII], a free website for searching Canadian court decisions and legislation. The ''Divorce Act'' became law in 1985. A number of very important changes to the act became law on 1 July 2020 which and changed how we talk about parenting children and the best interests of children. The current ''Divorce Act'' covers these basic main subjects:

The ''Divorce Act'' only applies to married ''married spouses'', people who are, or were, married to each other by a marriage commissioner or a religious official licensed to perform marriages. (If you're not legally married, the ''Divorce Act'' doesn't apply to you, and the ''Family Law Act'' is the only game in town.) The ''Divorce Act'' refers to children as ''children of the marriage''. A "child of the marriage" is defined in section 2(1) as:

In other words, a "child of the marriage" is someone who is less than 19 years old — the age of majority in British Columbia — or who is 19 and older if the child cannot support themselvesfor some reason, like going to college or university. The definition of "child of the marriage" is expanded in section 2(2) of the ''Divorce Act'' to include stepparents.

While someone who isn't a Not only do you have to be married spouse can use to ask for an order under the ''Divorce Act'' , you also have to apply be ''habitually resident'' in your province for an order relating to at least one year before you can ask the parenting court of children or getting time with children, that person must get your province for the courtorder. If you's permission first ve lived in your province for less than 12 months, and your spouse has been habitually resident in their province for at least a year, you can ask the people who are legally married to each other must have already started a court proceedingthere for an order under the ''Divorce Act.''

You must also be ''habitually resident'' in your province for at least one year before you Married spouses can ask the court in your province for an order under for their divorce, an order about decision-making responsibilities for any children of the ''Divorce Act''marriage, an order about parenting time, an order that they pay or receive child support, and an order that they pay or receive spousal support. This means that you might have to delay starting If there is a court proceeding for between married spouses, someone who is not a spouse — like a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or another person with a divorce if you've moved special connection to a new province within the last year.  Since only people qualifying as ''spouses'' are obliged to pay child support, the definition of child of the marriage is expanded in section 2(2) to include stepparents:The ''Divorce Act'' covers these basic subjects: #divorce—#decision-making responsibility;#parenting time and can ask for an order that they have contact with children;#the child support; and. However,#spousal supportpeople who are not spouses must get permission from the court before they can ask for a contact order.