The ''Family Law Act'' is a British Columbia law that you can find, along with other provincial laws, at the website of the [http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/00_11025_01 Queen's Printer] or on [http://canlii.ca/t/8q3k CanLII], a free website that lets you search Canadian laws and court decisions. A handy, downloadable PDF of the law is also available online through a service called [http://www.quickscribe.bc.ca/secure/pdfs/4032.pdf Quickscribe]. The ''Family Law Act'' covers these basic subjects:
#determining who the parentage parents of childrena child are;
#guardianship of children;
#parental responsibilities;
#orders protecting property.
The ''Family Law Act'' applies to ''married spouses'', people who are, or were, married to each other by a marriage commissioner or a religious official licensed to perform marriages, to ''unmarried spouses'', people who live, or used to live, together in a romantic relationship, and to people who are the ''parents'' of a child together.
Section 3 of the act says who is a "spouse:"
<blockquote><tt>(1) A person is a spouse for the purposes of this Act if the person</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><tt>(ii) except in Parts 5 [Property Division] and 6 [Pension Division], has a child with the other person.</tt></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(2) A spouse includes a former spouse.</tt></blockquote>
Section 1 of the act defines a ''child'' as "a person who is under 19 years of age." Section 146 expands that definition for the part of the act about child support, and says that "'child' includes a person who is 19 years of age or older and unable, because of illness, disability or another reason, to obtain the necessaries of life or withdraw from the charge of his or her parents or guardians."
to people Part 3 of the act has the rules for deciding who is a "parent." Most of the time, the parents of a child are the child's ''birth mother'' and ''biological father.'' (Section 26(2) lists the circumstances in which man is assumed to be the biological father of a child, such as being married to the birth mother, and section 33 says when the court can order that a DNA test be conducted to determine whether a man is the biological father of a child.) When a child is conceived through assisted reproduction, a child's birth parents— depending on the arrangements people make — can include a donor of sperm, a donor of eggs, a surrogate mother and the spouse of a surrogate mother.
and to other people Section 1 of the act defines a ''child'' as "a person who might have an interest in a is under 19 years of age." Section 146 expands that definition for the part of the act about childsupport, such as and says that "'child' includes a family memberperson who is 19 years of age or older and unable, because of illness, disability or another reason, to obtain the necessaries of life or withdraw from the charge of his or her parents or guardians." "Other reason" usually means that the adult child is going to college or university.
The same section expands the definition of ''parent'' for the purposes of child support. Under this definition "parent" can include someone who is a ''stepparent''. A "stepparent" is "a person who is a spouse of the child's parent and lived with the child's parent and the child during the child's life."
Section 1 of the ''Family Law Act'' defines a ''child'' as someone who is under 19 years of age. Section 146 gives a bigger definition of "child" when making decisions about child support. That section defines ''child'' as including: <blockquote><tt>a person who is 19 years of age or older and unable, because of illness, disability or another reason, to obtain the necessaries of life or withdraw from the charge of his or her parents or guardians</tt></blockquote> Under Part 3 of the act, a ''parent'' is presumed to be the biological father and the birth mother of a child. However, if assisted reproduction is used, ''parent'' can include: *up to two people who intend to have the child,*a donor of sperm and a donor of an egg,*a surrogate mother, and*a spouse of a surrogate mother. When child support is an issue, ''parent'' can include a stepparent. Section 146 defines a ''stepparent'' as: <blockquote><tt>a person who is a spouse of the child's parent and lived with the child's parent and the child during the child's life</tt></blockquote> Under section 3, ''spouse'' includes: *someone who is married to someone else,*someone who has lived with someone else in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years, *except for the parts of the act about dividing property and debt, someone who has lived with someone else in a marriage-like relationship for less than two years if they have had a child together, and*people who used to be spouses.The other important
Under section 39(1) of the act, a child's guardians are usually the child's parents, as long as they have lived together during the child's life. Under section 39(3), guardians include: