Difference between revisions of "Children and Parenting after Separation"

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This page provides an introduction to the law on the care of children after separation, and looks at traditional and developing concepts in this area of the law. It also discusses the rights and interests that grandparents and other non-parents might have.  

==Introduction==

Most of the pages in this chapter talk about how the court makes these decisions and the laws that apply to different parents in different situations.  

When parents separate, there is a lot more at stake than just where the children are going to be living tomorrow. Parents have an obligation to think in the long-term, and take a perspective that sees years down the road. How is their conflict going to affect their children? How can both parents maintain a meaningful role in their children's lives? How will the children adapt to the separation? When the children are older and look back on their childhood, what will they think of the separation? And, perhaps most importantly, how can the children best be helped to grow and mature into adults with families of their own?

For married spouses, the law regarding about children after separation is governed by the federal ''Divorce Act'' as well as the provincial ''Family Law Act''. For unmarried spouses and other unmarried couples, the only governing law is the ''Family Law Act''. Although married spouses can ask for orders under both the ''Divorce Act'' and the ''Family Law Act'',  it's best to pick one or the other. This is because the two laws approach the care of children with different attitudes and use different language.

The ''Divorce Act'' talks about the care of children in terms of ''custody'' and ''access''. Custody is about the right to have the child with you and the right to make decisions about how the child is cared for and raised. Access is about the child's schedule of time with his or her parents. A parent who has access but doesn't have custody is still entitled to have information about the health, education and wellbeing of the child.

The ''Family Law Act'' talks about people who are ''guardians''. A guardian is a person who is responsible for making decisions about how the child is cared for and raised. A guardian has ''parental responsibilities'', which means that a guardian must make these decisions in the best interests of the child.

Guardians are usually, but not always, the parents of a child, including people who are parents because of an assisted reproduction agreement. A parent who isn't a guardian can become a guardian by an agreement signed by all of the child's guardians. However, if the parent and the guardians can't agree, the parent will have to apply to court to be appointed as a guardian.

Under the ''Family Law Act'', a guardian's time with a child is called ''parenting time''. During a guardian's parenting time, the guardian is responsible for the care of the child and is entitled to make basic day-to-day decisions for the child.