staging>Nate Russell |
staging>Jpboyd |
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| The federal ''[[Divorce Act]]'' only applies to people who are or were married to each other; it doesn't apply to people in unmarried relationships, including parents who aren't married to each other. | | The federal ''[[Divorce Act]]'' only applies to people who are or were married to each other; it doesn't apply to people in unmarried relationships, including parents who aren't married to each other. |
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| ===Relationships between people who aren't parents or spouses===
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| Family law doesn't have much at all to do with people who are dating and don't have a child. They're not "spouses" under the ''Family Law Act'', they're not "parents," and since they don't have a child, they're not "guardians." The ''Family Law Act'' doesn't apply to them because their relationship isn't one of the relationships the act talks about.
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| There are only a few ways the law can affect people in relationships like this. If there is violence or non-consensual sexual activity, the parts of the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/7vf2 Criminal Code]'' that talk about things like assault, battery, sexual assault, rape, stalking, unlawful confinement, and abduction might apply, and those are issues that the police deal with. If they sign a lease together, buy something together or take out a loan together, then the law of contract or the law of property might be used to figure out who's entitled to which assets and responsible for which obligations. If they buy property together, the provincial ''[http://canlii.ca/t/848q Partition of Property Act]'' will let them ask the court to sell the property and divvy up the proceeds. I suppose that if they split up and start bad-mouthing each other on social media, then tort law and the law about defamation might also be relevant.
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| Unless there is something like this going on, when people who are dating each other split up, that's it, their relationship is over without any legal entitlements at all.
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| ===Relationships between people who are parents but aren't spouses===
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| Family law does talk — and it talks a lot — about people who are parents. While parents who aren't spouses can have all the same legal issues as people who are dating, under the criminal law, the law of contract, the law of property, and tort law, their concerns will mostly revolve around parenting and supporting their child. While they might also be concerned about tax benefits and credits relating to their child, like the equivalent-to-spouse credit under the federal ''[http://canlii.ca/t/7wmq Income Tax Act]'', the Canada Child Benefit and the BC Child Opportunity Benefit, what we're really talking about is parenting and child support.
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| ==Who is a "child"== | | ==Who is a "child"== |
