Canadian family law

Summary: This new edition of Payne and Payne's Canadian Family Law incorporates relevant citations of caselaw and judicial commentary dealing with fundamental legislative changes to the Divorce Act that came into effect on 1 March 2021. The most fundamental legislative changes replace the loaded terminology of “custody” and “access” orders in favour of “parenting orders” that focus on parenting time and decision-making authority, and “contact orders” with respect to third parties. They also establish a detailed non-exhaustive list of criteria to assist courts in determining the “best interests of the child”; call upon prospective litigants and their lawyers to address the feasibility of using out-of-court family dispute resolution services; introduce measures to effectively assist courts in addressing family violence; and create a framework for situations where one parent wishes to relocate a child of the marriage. Chapter 10 provides a detailed description of the legislative changes relating to parenting disputes and the authors venture their opinion concerning the ongoing impact of judicial rulings under the former statutory regime. Additional changes relating to recourse to alternative dispute resolution processes, and issues of a jurisdictional nature were also included in the recent amendments to the Divorce Act. Alternatives to the judicial resolution of family disputes, including collaborative family law, mediation, arbitration, med-arb, and parenting coordination are examined in chapters 1 and 6 of this edition of Canadian Family Law. The jurisdictional changes that came into force on 1 March 2021 are examined in Chapter 7. Significant changes relating to retroactive child support orders and judicial remission of child support are reviewed in Chapter 9 to reflect the judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada in Michel v Graydon and Colucci v Colucci.

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