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There are two courts that handle almost all family law litigation in British Columbia, Canada: the Provincial (Family) Court and the Supreme Court. Each court has its own rules, its own forms, and its own process.〔http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/The_Court_System_for_Family_Matters〕 There are two main laws that apply to family law problems in BC. A law, in this sense of the word, means a rule made by the government. These laws are the federal ''(Divorce Act )'' and the provincial ''(Family Law Act )''. Each law deals with different issues, although they share a lot of issues in common. For some couples, both laws will apply; for others, only one of these laws will apply, probably the ''Family Law Act''. You don't have to go to court, no matter how bad your problem is. The only times you ''must'' go to court are when: *you need a divorce, *someone is threatening to do something serious, like take the children away, *there is a risk of violence, *someone is threatening to hide property or money, or *you just can't agree about how to fix the problem no matter how hard you try. If you don't have to deal with one or more of these issues, you can always try to negotiate a way of fixing the problem, to find a solution that you both agree with. Couples who need help negotiating sometimes hire someone else to help, someone who is usually a stranger to them, called a ''mediator''. Mediators help to guide the negotiation process and encourage people to see different ways of solving the problem. Lawyers who mediate family law problems are called ''family law mediators'', and have special training in mediation apart from their training as lawyers. Because there are no rules in British Columbia about who can and who can't call themselves a mediator, you should look carefully at the mediator's credentials before you agree to use that person as your mediator. ==Common family law problems== Couples who live together and couples who don't, couples who are married and couples who are not can all have family law problems when their relationships end. In British Columbia family law affects same-sex couples in exactly the same way that it affects opposite-sex couples. The sorts of problems a couple can have when their relationship ends include deciding how the children will be cared for, whether support should be paid, and who will keep which property and which debt. Family law problems about children are: *''parenting time'' or ''custody'', which include deciding where the children will live for most of the time,〔http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/Children_in_Family_Law_Matters〕 *''parental responsibilities'' or ''custody'', which include deciding how the parents will make decisions about important things in the children's lives, about issues like health care and education, and *''parenting time'', ''contact'' or ''access'', which are about deciding how much time each parent will have with the children. Support means money that one person pays another to help with that person's expenses. Family law problems about support are: *''child support'', money that is paid to help with expenses for the children, like clothing and food,〔http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/Child_Support〕 and *''spousal support'', money that is paid to help with a spouse's day-to-day living expenses, like rent, the phone bill and the hydro bill, and sometimes to compensate a spouse for the economic decisions made during the relationship.〔http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/Spousal_Support〕 When a couple have property, sometimes including when only one person has property, they have to decide if and how that property will be shared between them. In family law, the property married spouses and unmarried spouses share is called ''family property'', generally only the property that accumulated during a relationship. Family property can include things like houses, bank accounts, and cars. It can also include RRSPs and pensions. Sometimes a couple also has to decide who will take responsibility for debts. Generally, only the debts that accumulated during a relationship will be shared between married spouses and unmarried spouses.〔http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/Property_&_Debt_in_Family_Law_Matters〕 Married spouses also have to decide about whether they want to get divorced. Divorce is the legal end of a marriage, and only a judge can make you divorced. Most married spouses whose relationship has ended want to get divorced, but it's usually a low priority. Couples who are not married, including unmarried spouses, never need to get divorced. As you can see, the sorts of family law problems a couple can have sometimes depends on what their relationship was like. In family law, there are three types of relationship:〔http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/Marriage_&_Married_Spouses〕〔http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/Unmarried_Spouses〕 #Unmarried couples. An unmarried couple probably think of themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend. They may have lived together, but not for too long. Sometimes an unmarried couple involved in a family law problem will have been together only for a very short while ― perhaps just long enough to make a baby. #Unmarried spouses. Unmarried spouses are not legally married. Unmarried spouses have lived together in a loving relationship, and, for most purposes of the ''(Family Law Act )'', must have lived together for at least two years or for less than two years if the couple have had a child together. #Married spouses. Married spouses have been legally married, by a marriage commissioner or a religious official licensed to perform marriages, and their marriage has been registered with the government where they were married. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Family law in British Columbia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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