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Under the provincial ''[[Family Law Act]]'', the time people who are not guardians have with a child, including parents who are not guardians, is called "contact." The language is the same under the federal ''[[Divorce Act]]'', except that "contact" refers to the time people who are not married spouses have with a child.
===Contact under the ''Family Law Act''===
People can make arrangements that someone have contact with a child in a number of ways. They can make an agreement with the child's parents, using negotiation, mediation, or a collaborative settlement process, or, if they can't agree, the person seeking contact can go to court or the person and the child's parents can decide to use arbitration. Arbitration, like mediation, is a process that everyone involved needs to agree to use. However, unlike mediation, the arbitrator will make a final and binding decision if an agreement cannot be reached. You can get more information about negotiation, mediation, collaborative settlement processes and arbitration in the chapter [[Resolving_Family_Law_Problems_out_of_Court | Resolving Family Law Problems out of Court]], and more information about litigation in the chapter [[Resolving_Family_Law_Problems_in_Court | Resolving Family Law Problems in Court]].
Under section 58(1) of the ''Family Law Act'', the guardian of a child can make an agreement with someone who is not a guardian that they have contact with a child. (Under section 58(2), agreements like these are only good if they are made with all of the child's guardians who have parental responsibility for making decisions about the people with whom the child may associate.) If agreement isn't possible, the person asking for contact can apply for a contact order under section 59 of the ''Family Law Act'' or under section 16.5 of the ''Divorce Act''.
It's important to remember people who are asking for contact orders under the ''Divorce Act'' can only ask for those orders:
*if there is an existing court proceeding between married spouses under the ''Divorce Act'', and
*the court first gives them permission to apply for contact under section 16.5(3) of the ''Divorce Act''.
There are no similar restrictions on people who are asking for contact orders under the ''Family Law Act''.
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