New Alberta Actmodernizes family law
Alberta's new Family Law Act was proclaimed into
force on October 1, 2005.
The Act covers:
- the
rights and responsibilities of guardians;
- spousal
and child support; and
- contact
for non-guardians.
It encourages appropriate
solutions by:
- focusing
on the best interests and safety of children;
- replacing
the idea of “win/lose” custody and access with the concept of distributing
parenting responsibility using parenting agreements or orders; and
- encouraging
mediation and dispute resolution, where appropriate.
The Act streamlines and modernizes Alberta's provincial
family law and replaces all or part of five outdated statutes. The Act does not
cover children's property, child welfare matters including adoptions, the
division of matrimonial property, or divorces.
The Act improves access to justice by allowing most
family matters to be dealt with in either Provincial Court or the Court of
Queen's Bench. Furthermore, a single, forms-based application procedure that
can be used for applications in both Provincial Court and the Court of Queen's
Bench has been implemented. The new application forms and instruction guides
are available on the Alberta Courts website.
As part of the implementation, and to improve Alberta's
family justice services and programs, Legal Aid Alberta has agreed to offer
more equitable coverage for family litigants in Provincial Court on a pilot
basis. Legal Aid is partnering with Justice to test early case evaluation as a
means of reducing the need for legal services. In addition, early intake and
assistance for litigants who do not have lawyers has been expanded, and
information services for all family law litigants has been enhanced. The
Parenting After Separation Seminar has been expanded to more locations and our
mediation, information, and court assistance services are better coordinated
under the banner “Family Justice Services”.
Court Fees, including a $200 filing fee, have been
eliminated for many family matters in the Court of Queen's Bench. There
continue to be no fees for filing in Provincial Court. The capacity of the
Court, especially the Provincial Court, to provide “same day” court orders has
been increased. Our clerks will, as much as possible, be supporting the concept
of “one file—one family” to limit duplication and confusion that occurs with
multiple court files.
More information about the Family Law Act and
Family Justice Services is available on the Alberta Courts website at
www.albertacourts.ab.ca.
B.C. reviewing Family
Relations Act
The B.C. Ministry of Attorney General is reviewing the Family
Relations Act. The goal is to modernize the law and support co-operative
approaches to resolving disputes in an act that is easy to read and understand.
The multi-year review will look at the content and
organization of the Family Relations Act as well as ways that the Act
can reflect the themes of the Family Justice Reform Working Group's report, A
New Justice System for Families and Children. For more information about
the review, see www.ag.gov.bc.ca/justice-services/.
The Working Group's June 2005 report recommends a system
that helps families resolve their own disputes and recommends changes to B.C.'s
family justice system to make it more accessible, effective and focused on the
needs of children and families. For more information about the report, please
visit the Justice Review Task Force website at www.bcjusticereview.org.
The Attorney General has endorsed the general policy
principles underlying the report's recommendations. To better understand the
implications of the recommendations, the Ministry of Attorney General has
initiated research on a number of topics, including:
- the
creation of Family Justice Information Hubs which would serve as the front door
to the family justice system;
- the
feasibility of a family justice information web portal to improve public access
to family law websites; and
- a
requirement to attend a consensual dispute resolution session (e.g., mediation)
before taking a first contested step in court.
The Justice Review Task Force is an on-going
collaboration between government, judges and lawyers, working together to help
make the justice system more responsive, accessible and cost-effective.
Members of the Family Justice Reform Working Group
included judges from the BC Supreme Court and the BC Provincial Court, family
law lawyers from across BC and representatives from the Ministry of Attorney
General and the mediation community.
Manitoba introduces Child Support Recalculation Service
Manitoba Justice opened a Child Support Recalculation
Service (CSRS) on July 4, 2005. The service
recalculates child support orders based on updated financial information. This
means the amount of court-ordered child support may be reviewed annually and
changed if there is a change in the income of the payor.
The Recalculation Service Office will give parents information
about the court application process to have an order enrolled with the service.
This service only applies to recalculation of child
support orders under The Family Maintenance Act in Manitoba.
Recalculations under the federal Divorce Act are currently being
discussed with the federal government.
To be eligible for recalculation, both parents must live
in Manitoba and one of them must get a court order authorizing the service to
recalculate child support at regular intervals. Eligible child support orders
must be for a table amount—an amount fixed by using the child support
tables—and is generally based on the actual income of the payor.
The table amount of child support and some special or extraordinary expenses
such as daycare can be recalculated if directed by the court.
A recalculated order takes effect 31 days after both
parents are advised of its terms. A recalculated order cannot deal with support
prior to that date, nor can it deal with any arrears of support.
If a parent opposes the recalculated support payments in
a recalculated child support order, he or she may apply for a variation of the
original (not the recalculated) child support order within 30 days after both
parents are notified of the recalculation. Where the variation application is
subsequently withdrawn, the paying parent becomes liable to pay the
recalculated amount on the same day he or she would have had the variation
application never been initiated.
Yukon introduces new services for parents
Yukon Justice has introduced a series of step‑by‑step
booklets to help parents with the basic court procedures in child support
matters. The series, entitled “Family Law Court Procedure Booklets for
Self-Represented Litigants,” is available on the Yukon Justice Internet site at
www.justice.gov.yk.ca. In addition, a Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) officer can now provide one-on-one assistance,
reviewing an application for completeness, answering questions concerning the
court process and helping parents collect child support once a child support order
or agreement is in place.
The MEP has also introduced
two new products to help their clients and people who want information about
their services: MEPline and direct deposit for
clients. MEPline, a telephone information service for
MEP clients, provides basic information on the Yukon MEP as well as a secure method of providing clients with
specific information on their cases at any time of day. MEPline
also allows MEP officers more uninterrupted time to
take collection action on support orders. MEP now
also offers direct deposit of support payments to client bank accounts.
Yukon Justice has initiated these projects with
assistance from the federal Child-centred Family Justice Fund.
Manitoba Pilot project helps parents split Canada Pension Plan
credits
Human Resources and Social Development Canada and the
Government of Manitoba are co-operating in a three year pilot project to help
separating and divorcing couples split their Canada Pension Plan (CPP) credits.
Since October 1, 2005, information respecting CPP credit splitting in family law proceedings has been
given out differently in Manitoba. When a spouse or common-law partner begins a
family law proceeding through the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, they will be
given copies of both an Information Notice and a simplified Request Form
respecting CPP credit splitting. They will keep one
copy of each document and will be required to serve the extra copy of each
document upon the other party in their proceeding.
The documentation will provide important information on CPP credit splitting to parties at the outset of family law
proceedings and will also provide an easier way to proceed with requests to
split a credit. The pilot project is expected to increase the take-up rate for CPP credit splitting between spouses and common-law
partners significantly.
Saskatchewan Justice introduces CD‑Rom
for Aboriginal families
With funding from the Child-centred Family Justice Fund,
Saskatchewan Justice has created a CD‑Rom version of a parenting
after separation and divorce program for Aboriginal families, entitled Kids
in the Middle: Parenting After Separation for Aboriginal Communities. The
curriculum was originally developed in British Columbia with input from other
jurisdictions, and was modified for the CD‑Rom.
At the same time, British Columbia received funding for
a train-the trainer pilot project, in how to deliver the Kids in the Middle curriculum.
As these projects were complementary, Saskatchewan Justice partnered with the
Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia. Two training sessions were
held in northern Saskatchewan in February, 2005. People who work with families
experiencing separation or divorce, such as Elders, Native Court workers,
school staff, health clinic staff, or parent aides were trained as
intermediaries. These trained intermediaries are able to provide support to
families, help parents use the CD‑Rom program, and make referrals
to services or sources of further information. The CD-Rom will also contain a
resource list and useful websites. It is expected that parents who work with
trained intermediaries, or use the CD themselves, will learn about other
services they may be able to access, such as the toll-free family justice line.
Saskatchewan Justice reviewed and consulted with Aboriginal
people and organizations in the province regarding the Kids in the Middle program.
The availability of a CD-Rom version of the program will
ensure it is accessible in those communities where Family Justice Services are
not able to offer Parenting after Separation/Divorce programming regularly. The
program is also intended to be culturally relevant for Aboriginal and northern
communities. It will also provide information about family law legislation and
services. The CD‑Rom was officially launched in March 2006.
FRO client service unit shortens wait times
Recent changes at the Family Responsibility Office (FRO)
in Ontario include a dedicated client service unit that handles administrative
and general inquiries. This change allows enforcement staff to deal with more
complex enforcement calls. The FRO now answers more calls and has seen a
decrease in wait times.
Legislation passed in June 2005 strengthened the FRO's enforcement powers, including its authority to demand
more information about defaulting payers to trace and locate them.
The FRO's website
(www.theFRO.ca) has been updated with information to help employers understand
their role in making payment deductions. New fact sheets with more information
about the FRO are now available in 25 different languages, including French and
English.
The FRO also plans to introduce a case management model
with supporting technology. Case management will help the FRO become more
proactive and build better working relationships with its clients.
The FRO is responsible for enforcing child and spousal
support orders issued by the court, for enforcing separation agreements and
domestic contracts filed with the courts, and for ensuring compliance with
support orders from reciprocating jurisdictions.
PEI introduces interactive website
Prince Edward Island's Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) launched an interactive website in July 2005. The
website available at https://eservices.gov.pe.ca/meps/index.jsp, gives clients
ready access to information about the MEP, enrolment,
case management, enforcement, tracing, and client relations through the online
transfer of information and data.
The site will reduce the number of phone calls and
in-person enquiries the program handles. Each MEP
client and the enforcement staff of other maintenance enforcement programs have
been given a user name and password to obtain information about an individual's
case.
The PEI MEP developed the site
to increase client accessibility to services and to enhance the links between
PEI's program and maintenance enforcement programs in reciprocating
jurisdictions. This project received funding from the Department of Justice
Canada Child-centred Family Justice Fund.
PEI adopts federal guidelines
On May 1, 2006, changes to Prince Edward Island's Child
Support Regulations Guidelines came into force to coincide with the coming into
force of the Federal Child Support Guidelines amendments. Prince Edward
Island's Regulations were amended to repeal the existing Provincial Child
Support Tables for Prince Edward Island and adopt the Federal Child Support
Guidelines in whole, including the Federal Child Support Tables for Prince
Edward Island.
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