Changes Coming to the Family Relations Act

(Transcript of audio clip)

Interviewer: This is a Legal Services Society podcast. It's August 7, 2007, and today we're speaking to Nancy Cameron about possible changes to the Family Relations Act. Nancy has been a lawyer in private practice in the area of family law for the last 20 years. She's also a writer and an educator. For the last 8 years, she has specialized in something called collaborative law. That's a way for couples to stay out of court when they're getting divorced, but still settle their issues around custody and spousal support.

The Ministry of Attorney General has asked Nancy to help them gather feedback. The ministry has released a series of discussion papers that deal with ways in which government might improve the Family Relations Act.

Thanks for talking to us today, Nancy. How many papers are there?

Nancy Cameron: There are three separate sets of discussion papers.

Interviewer: So there are sets of them, so there are multiple papers actually in the sets?

Cameron: That's right.

Interviewer: Can you tell us about the first set?

Cameron: Well, the first set is about division of property and division of pensions on marriage breakdown. Right now, the act does not cover common law couples for division of property on marriage breakdown, and so that's one of the questions in the first set of papers around division of property.

Interviewer: And what is the second set about?

Cameron: The second set is about parenting — how couples parent together after separation.

Interviewer: Does it cover common-law couples as well?

Cameron: As long as the common-law couples have children, then it would cover that.

Interviewer: Is there anything else in the second set of papers?

Cameron: There's a paper about family violence, and if there's been family violence, what kind of impact, if any, that should have on custody and access arrangements.

Interviewer: Access being a parent's ability to see his or her child if they don't have custody?

Cameron: That's right — what kind of arrangements those should be, how often, those kinds of things.

Interviewer: So how about the third set of papers; what do those touch on?

Cameron: Well, the third set of papers touches on spousal support, touches on cooperative approaches to dispute resolution — how couples can resolve their disputes outside of the court system, and different ways to encourage that — and also on legal parentage.

Interviewer: What around legal parentage?

Cameron: Because parenting options have become more complex over the last 30 years, a number of questions arise, for instance, around sperm donors — whether or not they are parents under the Family Relations Act, and if they're not a parent, who replaces them as a parent? So if you have a couple who have used sperm donors, how do you define who the legal parents are?

Interviewer: And how does the process work with these discussion papers? Are they just the first step?

Cameron: Well, first of all, there's consultations with both the legal community and with the public, and the consultation is just a first step. At the end of the day, it's up to the government — up to the Cabinet — to decide whether or not a new act will be drafted, and then it's up to the government to decide whether or not the new act will become law.

Interviewer: And these papers are just a place to start — or it sort of tells us what changes they might be considering, is that the case?

Cameron: Well, one of the reasons to review the Family Relations Act is because society changes over the years, and because the Family Relations Act really affects people's rights and responsibilities at the end of a marriage — or at the end of a common-law relationship — the government is committed to having the legislation really try to be in synch with society's values.

Interviewer: Because, up until this time, when things changed, the courts just had to find a way to deal with it, is that the case?

Cameron: Well, the law changes in two ways. One way is through a statute, which is what the Family Relations Act is, and then the other way is how the judges interpret the statute. And so, currently, we have a statute that was enacted in 1978, and so, over the last 30 years, judges have interpreted that. And one of the questions is: Should that be incorporated into a new act, how the judges have interpreted it?

Interviewer: How long will the comment period last?

Cameron: Well, the phase three papers will be open for discussion until November 2007, so it's contemplated that the consultation period will be over in 2007.

Interviewer: In November of 2007, or perhaps December? Well, it's probably hard to say.

Cameron: That's right, that's right. We keep having deadlines and then pushing them forward a little bit, so it may be December 2007.

Interviewer: Is it too early to say when the earliest date is that the changes might come into effect?

Cameron: It's probably too early to say that. After the consultations are done, then it's really up to the government in terms of how they proceed on next steps, and how quickly that will happen.

Interviewer: How can people view these papers?

Cameron: They're listed on the website, and I can give the website here: it's www.ag.gov.bc.ca/legislation/archive.htm#fra. If they go to that website, they will see copies of the papers, and they can also email comments on the papers from that website.

Interviewer: Well, thank you so much for speaking with us today, Nancy.

Cameron: Thank you, Olivia.

Interviewer: The comment period for the first set of papers Nancy described has ended. However, the ministry is still receiving comments on the second set of papers and will do so until September 7, 2007. And, as Nancy mentioned, the third set of papers can be read and commented on through at least November of 2007.

For more information on this podcast, visit the Family Law in BC website at www.familylaw.lss.bc.ca.

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