Whether you're facing your own family law challenges, supporting others, or seeking a better understanding of how family law works in British Columbia, this resource is tailored made for you. In this edition, we delve into the major areas of family law while addressing the evolving landscape of family justice in British Columbia. We begin with an overview, as in previous editions, of how the legal system for family law matters works in this province. This is the focus of much of the discussion in the Getting Started part of this wikibook, and [Introduction to Family Law in British Columbia] is provides a very high-level overview, followed by some information about the main legislation involved. The chapter on [[Understanding the Legal System for Family Law Matters]] rounds out our introduction, introducing you to the courts, the common law system, the role of lawyers, and includes a new section for this edition which talks about access to family justice.

As in previous editions, we then dive into chapters focused specifically on certain topics: the people and family relationships, separation and divorce topics, alternatives to litigationgoing to court, litigationgoing to court, family law agreements, children and parenting after separation, child and spousal support (a chapter for each), property and debt, and finally a close look at family violence. At the end of the wikibook you will find over 50 stand -alone articles or guides, all updated, which we use used to call our ''How Do I?'' section. We and now refer to these as ''Helpful Guides & Common Questions''.

I want to point out that this edition came together quite differently than previous oneseditions. It is 's unique in a couple of ways.

The first difference is that I updated most of the chapters myself. Not all, but most of them. In this respect, the fourth edition of ''JP Boyd on Family Law'' is more like the first edition, which I had written between 2012 and 2013 when the ''Family Law Act'' was about to replace the ''Family Relations Act'', changing family law as we knew it. Before teaming up with Courthouse Libraries BC to use Clicklaw Wikibookscreate the wikibook, I had published free family law information on my old BC Family Law Resource website. I reworked the content from my that website, painstakingly revised it painstakingly for the ''Family Law Act'', and released it with Courthouse Libraries BC as the first edition of ''JP Boyd on Family Law''. The wikibook was born, taking physical form as a thick printed book for libraries and simultaneously existing as a website through Clicklaw Wikibooks, accessed by hundreds of thousands annuallyof people every year. At that point, in 2013, the wikibook was still all my own work and writing. One of the major benefits of going with Clicklaw Wikibooks, however, was that it made it possible to invite other family law lawyers to help share the workload. As you may know might have noticed, the Clicklaw Wikibooks platform is based on the same technology that powers Wikipedia. This open-source platform is perfect for writing and editing content with a larger group of editors. As soon as the first edition was printed, Courthouse Libraries BC and I were able to recruit other family law lawyers to assist with updating the wikibook. Megan R. Ellis, KC, generously stepped up as the senior editor, and she was indispensable in leading managing dozens of volunteer editors, assigning them chapters to revise, and ultimately successfully producing two more editions in 2017 and 2019. I cannot overstate how critical Megan's assistance was over those years.

Soon after finishing the third edition of ''JP Boyd on Family Law'' in the summer of 2019, we got news that the federal government was planning a major amendment to overhaul of the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' , to take effect in the summer of 2020. Despite having just finished the third edition of ''JP Boyd on Family Law'', I felt that this major change meant we should try for a fourth edition as soon as possible. It Since this would require revising almost every chapter, so I also thought it would be a good opportunity to step in , as the founding author and make sure that the wikibook as a whole still read as if it were written by one person, still offered opinions and recommendations in give everything a plain language manner without lawyer's jargononce-over, and still employed humour from start to lighten up the subject matterfinish. The volunteer editors we'd relied upon in 2019 had also only just recently finished their work, and since , because my revisions would mostly address impact of be aimed at the ''Divorce Act'' amendments, and rewrite some pages to streamline the overall tone, it did not didn't make much sense to ask other our contributors to do even more work. We charted out what we expected would be a 2020 edition. What we could not appreciated was that we were on the brink of a global pandemic.

This brings me to the second major difference between this edition and previous ones. It took more than three years longer than initially planned. Some, but not all, of this delay is due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In February 2020, as And so we mapped charted out what we thought would be a plan for a summer new 2020 edition, amendments to right on the ''Family Law Act'' were announced. These mostly involved family law arbitrations, and were manageable. But once heels of the pandemic struck, and we came under a provincial state of emergency, a huge uncertainty descended over court operations2019 edition. The What didn''Divorce Act'' amendments t know was that we were put on hold by lawmakers. For a while everything just froze. Virtual court hearings were not a serious topic of discussion in March 2020. But the public health crisis forced the legal system's hand. Soon after the courthouses shutdown this changed, a flurry brink of radical changes were made to allow their work to continue. People were suddenly appearing in court from their living rooms. Chief judiciary from the courts, understandably unrehearsed, were inventing rules on the fly that would allow the courts to continue to dispense justice. It all took time to subside to a point where one could say "this is how a hearing is held, and these are the procedures." And the period during 2020, 2021, and even 2022 was not a good time to write a guide on going to court, and commit those words on a printed pageglobal pandemic.

This brings me to the second major difference between this edition and previous ones. It took more than three years longer than initially planned. Some, though not all, of this delay is due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But in February 2020, as mentionedwe mapped out a plan for a next edition, amendments to the delays for ''JP Boyd on Family LawAct'' were not only because announced. These mostly involved family law arbitration, and were manageable. That wasn't the end of it. Once the pandemic disruptionsstruck and we came under a provincial state of emergency, a huge amount of uncertainty descended over court operations. The ''Divorce Act'' amendments were put on hold by lawmakers. For a while everything just froze. Virtual court hearings were not a serious topic of discussion before March 2020, but the public health crisis coincided with something else, which was a desire, especially within forced the Provincial Courtlegal system's hand, to give court participants in family law proceedings and a better experience. Aside from the flurry of radical changes were made so the courts could continue to operate. People were suddenly appearing in court process in response to the pandemicfrom their living rooms. Our chief judges, much of which were temporaryunderstandably unrehearsed, there were other, more deliberate, changes that we did not anticipate when we thought we would go developing rules on the printers in 2020 fly. It took a lot of time to get to deliver the point where anyone could say "this editionis how a hearing is held, and these are the procedures. " The most significant change we did not foresee in 2019 when we hatched plans for the fourth editionperiod during 2020, 2021, and even 2022 was the arrival of ''not'' a good time to write a totally new set of Provincial Court Family Rules and forms, which took effect guide on May 17, 2021. And what we cannot ignore now is that these changes going to rules and forms, and this experimentation with different types of procedures for different registries, is a signal that the Provincial Court is not quite donecourt.

The public health crisis coincided with something else, a desire, especially within the Provincial Court, to give court participants in family law proceedings a better experience. Most of the changes in response to the pandemic were temporary. But there were other, more deliberate, changes to court processes that we could not have anticipated when we were planning the 2020 edition. We certainly didn't expect the totally new set of Provincial Court family rules and forms that took effect on 17 May 2021. And this it's clear that the Provincial Court isn’t quite done experimenting with different types of procedures a different registries.  This leads me to a third major difference in the fourth this edition, which is that we have moved left the bulk of our chapter about Resolving Family Law Problems in Court to in the website version of this resource. We have had In light of the changes to acknowledge just how dynamic the courts date and their legal procedures those that are at this time. While we want yet to come, it seemed unwise to provide you a book with the most current and pertinent information about court procedure, we cannot do that is very likely to be out of date by providing information in a print book. The landscape is just too volatilethe time we get it back from the printer. For this edition, you will you’ll see that the Resolving Family Law Problems in Court chapter is much shorter, that the chapter is providing only an overview only, and that readers are directed with directions to the online version of the chapter to get more in-depth information. As a trade off, however, It’s so much easier and quicker to update information on the online version of the chapters about going to court will be updated more readilywebsite, and have that’s where you’ll find more detailed discussions information about processes in the litigation process in British Columbia's Supreme Provincial Court and Provincial the Supreme Court.

There are a couple other new aspects changes to this fourth edition of ''JP Boyd on Family Law''. The challenges and opportunities in access to family justice is reflected are discussed in this edition's a new section on [[Access to Family Justice]]. This new section has coverage of We talk about the barriers to justice and the array of responses from courts, governments, and legal communities. We explore innovative solutions and initiatives that have emerged to tackle these challenges, from alternative dispute resolution methods to legal aid services, and listed some great resources that you should know about.

This edition pays We have also paid special attention to the [[Family Violence Overview|Family Violence]] chapter, which was has been revised in consultation with Rise Women's Legal Centre. Additionally, updates to the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' have prompted important revisions in the [[Property and Debt in Family Law Matters]] chapter, ensuring that our readers are well-informed about the latest changes. I want to thank Trudy Hopman for stepping up to help on the property-related updates, and thank Beatrice McCutcheon for her review of the pages on [[Family Law Agreements]].

As always, the goal of this resource is to demystify family law and provide practical, understandable guidancehelp. From navigating court procedures to understanding legal rights and alternatives to litigation, ''JP Boyd on Family Law'' serves an important purpose in this province. I encourage you to explore the chapters that resonate fit with your needs and interests.