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→The Divorce Act
===The ''Divorce Act''===
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 and changed how we talk about parenting children and the best interests of children. The current ''Divorce Act'' covers these main subjects:
The ''Divorce Act'' only 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. (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:
Married spouses can ask the court for:
If there is a court proceeding between married spouses, someone who is not a spouse — like a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or another person with a special connection to a child of the marriage — can ask for an order that they have contact with the child. However, people who are not spouses must get permission from the court before they can ask for a contact order.
''[[JP Boyd on Family Law]]'' provides extensive coverage of the ''Divorce Act'', including a chapter on [[Divorce Act Basics|''Divorce Act'' Basics]].