Married spouses and unmarried spouses who have lived together for at least two years have exactly the same rights in British Columbia under the provincial ''[[Family Law Act]]''. People in both kinds of relationship may:

The only legal differences between married spouses and unmarried spouses who have lived together for at least two years are that:

That's it.

And the only legal differences between unmarried spouses who have lived together for at least two years and unmarried spouses who have lived together for less than two years are that couples who have lived together for less than two years can't:

People in both kinds of relationship may be the ''guardians'' of their children, and as guardians have parental responsibilities and parenting time with respect to those children, have ''contact'' with a child, ask for or be responsible to pay ''child support'', ask for or be responsible to pay ''spousal support'', and apply for orders for the ''protection of people''. For unmarried spouses, the time limit to ask for spousal support under section 198 of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' begins to run from the date they separated.