VANCOUVER CHILD PARENTING TIME GUARDIANSHIP LAWYERS
Vancouver child custody, Vancouver child parenting time and BC “parenting responsibilities” and BC “parenting time” are phrases used in BC courts when Court decisions regarding children are involved. Joint guardianship no longer exists in BC, rather both parents will remain as guardians if they have a history of shared involvement in raising their child. The experienced family law lawyers at MacLean Law are pleased to sit down with you to review Vancouver child parenting time concepts with you at any of our 4 offices across BC located in Fort St John/Dawson Creek, Kelowna, South Surrey and Vancouver. We routinely help clients settle Vancouver Child Parenting Time issues and are adept at winning the most complex and high conflict child parenting time cases. what is Vancouver Child Parenting Time? We explain the meaning of Vancouver Child Parenting Time below and break down the different aspects of it and how guardianship plays a huge part in your ability to spend time and make decisions with respect to your child.
What Happened To BC Child Custody?
When talking about children of separated parents, you will often hear the word “custody” referred to by your friends, family members or on TV. People usually think this word means the time that each parent physically spends with the child. However in BC, “custody” is no longer the only word that is commonly used by BC family courts. Though the word “custody” is still used in our federal family law legislation, the Divorce Act, the word is no longer used in BC’s provincial family law legislation, the Family Law Act. The decision to use “parenting responsibilities and parenting time” was deliberate and designed to be less confrontational. Vancouver Child Parenting Time cases are encouraged to be settled outside of court through negotiation, mediation, arbitration or the collaborative family law process.
BC Parenting Time
In BC under our Family Law Act, we use the words “parenting time,” “parental responsibilities” and “guardian”. Vancouver Child parenting time is the amount of time a guardian parent spends with a child. BC guardians have the right to be involved in the decision-making of significant issues affecting your child. BC Parental responsibilities are a bundle of certain specific rights regarding common significant issues affecting the child, such as the ability to apply for a passport on behalf of the child, or the ability to request the child’s report cards or doctor’s records. Under the BC Family Law Act joint guardianship no longer exists.
What is Child Contact?
Only a guardian may exercise parental responsibilities and exercise parenting time. You can also be a parent but not be a guardian of the child, in which case any time you spend physically with the child is referred to as “contact.” To repeat you need to be a guardian to have Vancouver Child Parenting Time.
What Powers Does A Guardian Have?
Section 41 of the Family Law Act defines parental responsibilities:
41 For the purposes of this Part, parental responsibilities with respect to a child are as follows:
(a) making day-to-day decisions affecting the child and having day-to-day care, control and supervision of the child;
(b) making decisions respecting where the child will reside;
(c) making decisions respecting with whom the child will live and associate;
(d) making decisions respecting the child’s education and participation in extracurricular activities, including the nature, extent and location;
(e) making decisions respecting the child’s cultural, linguistic, religious and spiritual upbringing and heritage, including, if the child is an aboriginal child, the child’s aboriginal identity;
(f) subject to section 17 of the Infants Act, giving, refusing or withdrawing consent to medical, dental and other health-related treatments for the child;
(g) applying for a passport, licence, permit, benefit, privilege or other thing for the child;
(h) giving, refusing or withdrawing consent for the child, if consent is required;
(i) receiving and responding to any notice that a parent or guardian is entitled or required by law to receive;
(j) requesting and receiving from third parties health, education or other information respecting the child;
(k) subject to any applicable provincial legislation,
(i) starting, defending, compromising or settling any proceeding relating to the child, and
(ii) identifying, advancing and protecting the child’s legal and financial interests;
(l) exercising any other responsibilities reasonably necessary to nurture the child’s development.
The above parental responsibilities can be shared equally between the guardian parents, or can be solely exercised by one parent only, or can be any kind of arrangement in between.
It is important to note that a 100% allocation of parental responsibilities to one parent does NOT mean that parent is the child’s sole guardian.
Is It Bad For Me To Give Up Being A Guardian –YES!
J.W.K. v. E.K., 2014 BCSC 1635, a 2014 BC Supreme court decision, explains the interplay between parental responsibilities and being a guardian: (emphasis added)
[32] In terminating the father’s guardianship, the trial judge appears to have accepted the view that a complete reallocation of parental responsibilities is inconsistent with the scheme of guardianship established by the FLA. However, s. 40(4) says that “no particular [parenting] arrangement is presumed to be in the best interests of the child” and specifically says that it should not be presumed that parental responsibilities should be allocated equally among guardians. In my view, this gives the court complete discretion to determine what allocation is in a child’s best interests, up to and including a complete allocation of parenting responsibilities in favour of one guardian. There is no indication in the FLA that allocating all responsibilities to one parent would automatically terminate the other parent’s guardianship; hence, doing so is not inconsistent with guardian status.
[33] Similarly, s. 42(2), the parenting time provision, notes that during parenting time a guardian may exercise the parental responsibility of making day-to-day decisions and having day-to-day care and control of the child “subject to an agreement or order that provides otherwise.” As a result it is consistent with a parent’s continued status as guardian to make an order that results in a complete restriction of a guardian’s exercise of parental responsibilities, even during their parenting time.
[34] Also consistent with this view is the fact that a guardian who has no parental responsibilities still has legal rights under the FLA that confirm and promote their involvement in their child’s life. As the trial judge noted, only a guardian can challenge an application to relocate. This is not an insignificant right. In addition if a child’s guardian dies and the surviving parent is not a guardian, they do not automatically become a guardian but must apply for an appointment. Also, s. 49 of the FLA allows a guardian to apply to a court for directions respecting an issue affecting a child. Only a guardian can make such an application. A parent who is not a guardian but with contact has no legal right to challenge the other parent’s actions in court. As a result I conclude that even without parental responsibilities, guardianship still has a meaningful legal status. Additionally, as noted earlier, it has a symbolic status: a guardian is seen as playing a “parental” role in a child’s life, even when not exercising parental responsibilities.
[35] The separation in the FLA between guardianship and parenting rights permits a parent to remain a guardian even when the circumstances indicate that it would not be in the child’s best interest for that parent to exercise parenting responsibilities.
[36] I note as well that once guardianship is lost, under the FLA it may be difficult to regain. The process for applying for appointment as a guardian under s. 51 is not a simple one, procedurally or legally. On the other hand, reallocation of parental responsibilities is a comparatively simple matter; the court can reallocate following a regular chambers application. Termination is far less flexible. As such, reallocation is better suited to address shifting familial circumstances.
Summary
To summarize, a parent who does not have any parental responsibilities assigned to him or her, but is still a guardian, still retains the following rights:
(1) right to seek a review of any of the other guardian’s decisions regarding the child,
(2) right to receive notice of the other guardian’s intention to relocate with the child and
(3) right to be eligible to be the child’s sole guardian upon the death of the other guardian without needing to bring a court application.
Being a child’s guardian therefore bestows on that person significant rights and entitlements, and having parental responsibilities on top of that enables that guardian to be even more involved in the child’s life and involved in making decisions that significantly affect the child. Giving up parental responsibilities is a serious matter; giving up guardianship rights is even more so.
We strongly recommend that you speak to our highly experienced family lawyers at MacLean Law before you enter into any kind of agreement regarding your rights pertaining to your child. You can also call us toll free at 1-877-602-9900 across North America if you have a Vancouver Child Parenting Time concern.
