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→The Family Law Act
==The ''Family Law Act''==
Both the Supreme Court and the Provincial Court can make orders for child support under the ''Family Law Act''.
===Qualifying for child support===
Definitions play an important role in determining eligibility and responsibility for child support under the ''[[Family Law Act]]'', just as they do under the ''[[Divorce Act]]''. Section 147 of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' says that each parent and guardian of a child is responsible for the support of that child, and section 146 defines ''child'', ''parent'', and ''guardian'' as follows:
<blockquote><tt>"child" includes a person who is 19 years of age or older and unable, because of illness, disability or another reason, to obtain the necessaries of life or withdraw from the charge of his or her parents or guardians;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>"parent" includes a stepparent, if the stepparent has a duty to provide for the child under section 147 (4) [duty to provide support for child];</tt></blockquote>
Section 146 also gives a definition of ''stepparent'' for the definition of "parent ," and says that:
<blockquote><tt>"stepparent" means a person who is a spouse of the child's parent and lived with the child's parent and the child during the child's life.</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(1) Each parent and guardian of a child has a duty to provide support for the child, unless the child</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(b) a proceeding for an order under this Part, against the stepparent, is started within one year after the date the stepparent last contributed to the support of the child.</tt></blockquote></blockquote>
Section 149(3)(b) also says that an order can't be made against a stepparent until the stepparent and parent have separated. It is interesting This means that while the a stepparent and the a child’s parent live together, the stepparent has no legal obligation duty to support that child, unless the stepparent becomes a guardian of the child. As you can see, these definitions cast a very wide net and it's fairly easy to qualify as a "parent" who must pay child support. A few important points come from the case law on these definitions: *All parents are responsible to pay child support, regardless of the nature of the parents' relationship with each other.*Child support can be paid by stepparents and by guardians who aren't parents.*The definition of "stepparent" includes anyone who has been the spouse of a parent and contributed to the support of the child for at least one year.*The phrase "contributed to the support of the child for at least one year" does not mean for a whole, continuous calendar year. The 1999 case of [[https://canlii.ca/t/1d290|''Hagen v. Muir''] talks about this issue. *Child support obligations may end for an adult child if the child makes a decision to stop having a meaningful relationship with the parent who pays support. The case of [http://canlii.ca/t/1dk6h Farden v. Farden] talks about circumstances like these. *Whether stepparents and adult children do or don't have an ongoing relationship may be important when deciding if child support should be paid and in what amounts
*Any application for child support from a stepparent must be brought within one year of the date of the stepparent's last contribution to the support of the child and can only be made after the stepparent and parent have split up.
*What qualifies as “contribution” to the support of the child depends on the facts. Trivial or sporadic financial contributions are not sufficient: [http://canlii.ca/t/1rn88 ''McConnell v. McConnell''], 2007 BCSC 748.