===Complexity barriers===
stoppedWhile public legal information can help explain court procedures, case law and legislation, ultimately the primary materials that must be understood are the legal authorities. Unfortunately, statutes and judge's reasons are not written for the average person; they're written by lawyers (or by judges who used to be lawyers) for lawyers. For many, the complexity of intricate court rules and the dense legal language in statutes and case law leads to confusion and misunderstanding. The complexity of the law undermines people's ability to understand it, and this complexity is another barrier to justice.
While public legal information Some of the complexity can help explain court procedures, caselaw and legislation, ultimately those primary materials be minimized by trustworthy plain language resources that are written for the legal authoritiespublic. Unfortunately, statues and judge's reasons are not written for Going to the average person; they're written by lawyers (or judges who used [https://www.clicklaw.bc.ca Clicklaw website] is a good place to be lawyers) for lawyersstart. For many, the complexity That website is a clearing house of intricate court rules reliable public legal education and the dense legal language information about family law in statutes and caselaw leads to confusion or misunderstandingBritish Columbia. Complexity in law undermines oneThere's ability to understand it, and this complexity is a barrier to justice.also:
Some of the complexity can be minimized by trustworthy plain language resources that are written for the public. Going to the [https://www.clicklaw.bc.ca Clicklaw website] is a good place to start. That website is a clearing house of legitimate public legal education and information relating to family law in BC. There's also:*Legal Aid BC's [https://family.legalaid.bc.ca/ Family Law website],*the Justice Education Society's [https://supremecourtbc.ca/family-law Online Help Guide for Supreme Court family law matters],*the People's Law School's [https://dialalaw.peopleslawschool.ca/category/families/ Dial-A-Law website for families and children], and*BC the Ministry of Attorney General's [https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/life-events/divorce/family-justice Family Justice website].
If you go to court, you'll want to learn about the BC British Columbia Supreme Court or the BC Provincial Court, and their rulesas well.
The Provincial Court, has relatively easy-to-understand rules that can be printed into a thick brochure, doesn't charge any filing fees, and has forms that are easy to fill out. The Provincial Court website has a [https://www.provincialcourt.bc.ca/GoingToCourt Going to Court webpage] with helpful materials for self-represented litigants.
If you need to divide property upon separation or get a divorce, you have to go to the BC Supreme Court. This court has rules the size width of the Kelowna phone book, charges fees for almost every step of the process, and has uses more complicated forms. The Supreme Court also has some [https://www.bccourts.ca/supreme_court/self-represented_litigants/ information for self-represented litigants on its website].
The point is that there are a lot of barriers to accessing justice in British Columbia — and everywhere else in Canada, really — which include common perceptions about court being the best place to do solve problems and barriers to challenges accessing out-of-court-options, the complexity of the governing legislation and the common law, the complexity of the rules of court, the difficulty of navigating the free or low-cost options that do exist, and, of course, the cost of accessing professionals when needed professionals, whether that's a lawyer or a mediator, parenting coordinator, collaborative family law practitioner, or anothersomeone else altogether.
If we do live in a society governed by the rule of law, and I believe we do, it seems important to advocate for better access to justice for everyone, including the children of divorce and separation.